Alleged captain of capsized migrant boat in English Channel charged with manslaughter

A man who allegedly piloted a small boat full of migrants that capsized while crossing the English Channel in December has been charged with four counts of murder.

Ibrahima Bah, 19, is due to appear at Folkestone Magistrates Court on Thursday to face charges relating to the drowning on December 14, 2022. His nationality was not made public.

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Officials said helicopters and lifeboats responded to a distress call overnight, rescuing 39 people – many pulled from the frigid waters – off the coast of southern England. Four bodies were recovered.

A group of people are brought to Dungeness, Kent as migrants after being rescued by the RNLI following a small boat incident in the Channel. The migrants are not believed to be among those rescued from the sunken boat captained by Ibrahima Bah.
(Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images))

The British government is trying to block migrants from coming to the UK and crack down on smugglers, who charge thousands of dollars per person to cross the Channel in floating inflatable boats. In November 2021, at least 27 people died when a boat capsized.

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Bah is also accused of facilitating attempted illegal entry into the United Kingdom. He is due to stand trial for that offense later this year.

The Conservative government’s controversial policy to stop the small boats includes plans to block asylum claims by anyone arriving in the UK through unauthorized means and would see migrants sent back home or to a third country such as Rwanda.

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More than 45,000 people are expected to arrive in Britain by boat from northern France in 2022, 28,000 in 2021 and more than 8,500 in 2020.