Teenager charged with assisting illegal entry into UK following deaths of four migrants in the Channel
18 December 2022, 13:22 | Updated: 18 December 2022, 16:16
A nineteen-year-old man has been charged after four migrants died in the Channel.
In the early hours of Wednesday, Kent Police were called to provide assistance to HM Coastguard lifeboats following a report of a small boat in difficulty in the water.
A search and rescue operation involving multiple agencies was started at 2.16am on December 14, with the Coastguard, Royal Navy, French navy, RNLI lifeboats, police, and ambulance services involved in the hunt.
39 people were brought safely to shore, though four others were pronounced dead.
The Crown Prosecution Service has authorised a charge against Ibrahima Bah, 19, of knowingly facilitating the attempted arrival in the United Kingdom of people he knew or had reasonable cause to believe were asylum seekers.
The circumstances surrounding the deaths are being investigated by detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, assisted by the National Crime Agency, the force said.
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On Friday 16 December, a teenager was arrested in connection with incident.
Kent Police said the man, who is of no fixed address, is remanded in custody and will appear before Folkestone Magistrates’ Court on Monday, December 19.
The force are continuing try and establish the identity of those who died and locate their next of kin.
