By GB News (World News) | Created at 2026-09-24 21:35:58 | Updated at 2026-09-24 22:21:40
51 minutes ago
A migrant has been captured on film abandoning a toddler in the water as he scrambled to climb onto an overcrowded dinghy bound for Britain.
Shocking video footage shows a man grabbing a youngster to his chest as he waded towards the black inflatable boat.
Hit with a heavy current, the migrant could be seen letting the child, wearing an orange life vest, bob away.
The youngster is then left floating in the water for several seconds, face up to the sky, until two members of the French lifeboat organisation, the SNSM, rescue the unattended child.
The migrant then hurled himself towards the overcrowded dinghy.
The harrowing footage was captured in the shallow shores of Berck beach, some 30 miles south of Boulogne on Monday.
It is not known whether the migrant, dressed in a hooded anorak and an orange lifejacket, is related to the child.
The video surfaced online on the same day it was revealed an illegal migrant died in the Channel, revealing the harrowing dangers of making the perilous crossing.
The migrant was first clutching the child in the water
@THENOWHEREPHOTO/X
The man, who was pronounced dead, was trying to cross into Britain after a scuffle erupted on board a small boat.
Another man, a 29-year-old, who displayed symptoms of hypothermia, was also treated by emergency services.
The man was later taken to Boulogne-sur-Mer hospital but did not require extensive medical intervention, French authorities said.
And, yesterday, French police confirmed another man was discovered dead on Neufchatel-Hardelot beach in northern France.
The child was left floating in the water
@THENOWHEREPHOTO/X
Between 2018 and 2025, some 162 people are known to have died attempting small boat crossings in the English Channel, the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford recorded.
The deadliest year on record was 2024, with estimates spanning from 69 to 84 deaths due to the overcrowded vessels unfit for travel.
Today, it was also revealed almost 800 small boat migrants made the perilous journey across the Channel - the highest number since Andy Burnham replaced Sir Keir Starmer.
As a result, the influx of arrivals by small boat this year now stands at 18,565, provisional figures from the Home Office reveal.
Two men rescued the youngster left floating in the water
@THENOWHEREPHOTO/X
This morning, Lucy Powell was grilled by GB News over whether she could "reassure viewers" that small boat migrants who entered the UK illegally this week had been detained.
Ms Powell responded: "Look, the Home Secretary has rightly demanded answers to this, and she's ordered a quick and robust review of what happened here.
"Small boat crossings remain a challenge, but we have seen a significant fall this year in the number of people coming across on small boats, thanks to the range of measures that this Government has brought into effect."
"I'm not the Home Secretary, but you can be sure that all action is being taken and people are detained," she reiterated.
