Paris, Oct 6 (IANS): Four migrants including a 2-year-old child died while attempting to cross the English Channel illegally, the French Pas-de-Calais prefecture told.

French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on the social platform X that the incident was a "horrific tragedy that should make us all aware of the ongoing catastrophe," Xinhua news agency reported.

"Today several people died trying to cross the Channel. A child was trampled to death in a boat. A terrible tragedy that must make us all aware of the unfolding tragedy. The people smugglers have the blood of these people on their hands and our government will intensify the fight against these mafias who are getting rich by organising these crossings of death," he said in a post on X.

Since January, at least 46 illegal migrants have lost their lives attempting to cross the Channel to reach the United Kingdom, not including the victims of the latest incidents on Saturday, according to a tally by AFP, making the year 2024 the most deadly since 2018 when the cross-Channel migration phenomenon began.

Meanwhile, on the British side, over 25,000 migrants have arrived via makeshift boats this year alone, according to official UK government reports from September.