Britain’s National Crime Agency said on Saturday it had charged a 27-year-old Sudanese man with endangering life after four migrants died while attempting to cross the Channel from France to Britain on a small boat this week.
The NCA, which investigates organised crime, said it charged Alnour Mohamed Ali, who was arrested on Friday, “with endangering another during a journey by sea” to Britain.
The incident occurred on Thursday off the coast of Saint-Etienne-au-Mont, near Calais in northern France.
The four victims, two women and two men whose identities have not yet been released, died when they tried to board a water taxi which smugglers are increasingly using to avoid police, the NCA said.
It said 38 people were returned to the French shore after the incident, but 74 migrants travelled to Britain.
Ali, who allegedly piloted the boat, is due to appear at Folkestone Magistrates Court on Saturday, the NCA added.
The numbers of people crossing the Channel to seek asylum in Britain have made illegal immigration a hot issue for Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his predecessors in Downing Street.