LONDON: A 19-year-old man has been charged with manslaughter after four people died trying to cross the Channel to the UK in a small boat, police said on Wednesday.
Ibrahima Bah was initially charged with facilitating illegal entry to the UK following the incident in December last year.
A boat packed with migrants got into trouble in freezing temperatures, sparking a rescue operation that brought 39 people to safety.
But four people were pronounced dead. Their identities are still unknown but a coroner’s inquest has been told they may have been from Afghanistan and Senegal.
Kent Police in southeast England said Bah was due to face trial later this year for the facilitating illegal entry charge.
He will make a first appearance in court on the more serious charge before magistrates in Folkestone on Thursday.
The capsizal came just over a year after at least 27 people died in the Channel trying to reach the UK from northern France.
Record numbers of people attempted the perilous crossing last year, despite claims by the UK government that the country’s departure from the European Union would help tighten borders.
Latest figures show that 4,844 people have been detected in small boats and brought ashore so far this year.
Ministers have proposed tough measures to crackdown on the practice, including a proposal to deport failed asylum seekers to Rwanda, which has caused a human rights outcry.
Teenager charged with manslaughter after English Channel capsize
https://arab.news/w59vk
Teenager charged with manslaughter after English Channel capsize
- Ibrahima Bah was initially charged with facilitating illegal entry to the UK following the incident in December last year
- Four people were pronounced dead
Denmark cut asylum figures to historic low in 2025: govt
- “My main priority is to limit the influx of refugees,” said Stoklund
- Denmark registered 1,835 asylum requests by November 2025
COPENHAGEN: Denmark’s strict immigration policies drove asylum admissions to a historic low in 2025, with 839 requests granted by the end of November, the government announced Saturday.
“It is absolutely critical that as few foreigners as possible come to Denmark and obtain asylum. My main priority is to limit the influx of refugees,” said Immigration Minister Rasmus Stoklund in a press release.
According to the ministry, “there have been very few years when the annual total remained below 1,000 ... 2025 will be a year with a historically low number of residence permits granted on asylum grounds.”
Denmark registered 1,835 asylum requests by November 2025.
The country’s immigration approach has been influenced by far-right parties for more than 20 years, and Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, the head of the Social Democrats, has pursued a “zero refugee” policy since coming to power in 2019.
Copenhagen has over the years implemented a slew of initiatives to discourage migrants and make Danish citizenship harder to obtain.
In 2024, the country of six million people accepted some 860 of the 2,333 asylum requests lodged that year.
