Two men and two women were swept away by currents while attempting to board dinghy off French coast
A man has been arrested on suspicion of endangering life after four people died in a small boat Channel crossing on Thursday.
The man, described by prosecutors as a 27-year-old Sudanese national, was arrested by National Crime Agency investigators on Friday.
The four victims, two men and two women, died when they tried to board a dinghy. They were swept away by strong currents, according to François-Xavier Lauch, the prefect of Pas-de-Calais. The dinghy was described as a taxi-boat, which travels along stretches of the northern French and Belgian coasts, picking up people along the shore.
Human rights organisations working at the Anglo-French border said more dangerous taxi-boats were being increasingly deployed by smugglers to evade police enforcement on French beaches. People now have to wade out to sea to board these dinghies.
