More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
The body of a baby who died after a boat carrying asylum seekers capsized off Dunkirk in October, has been found.
The infant was on a boat which capsized and also killed four other people who were trying to reach Britain last year.
The four people included two other children aged five and eight, but 15 others were rescued and taken to hospitals in Dunkirk and Calais after the French-led operation to rescue those on board.
At the time it was reported the four people who died were from a Kurdish-Iranian family, and their 15-month-old baby, Artin, was not found in the days after the tragedy.
The searches which included military resources and civilian helpers continued into the night on the day the boat capsized, but was called off because of darkness and bad weather.
Investigators then questioned the survivors to determine exactly how many people were aboard and if any others might have drowned, the French maritime official said at the time.
It is understood police in Norway said Artin's body had been found near Karmoy in January and his remains are now due to be flown back to Iran to be buried.
At the time of the tragedy, both Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN) and Care4Calais called for this latest incident to be a wake-up call for the government to stop migrants making the dangerous journey in small boats.
Opposition Labour Party lawmaker Yvette Cooper echoed their message.
She told the BBC: "We have feared that we would see a tragedy like this for a long time.
“The journey is perilous and we’ve seen an increase in the number of these small boat crossings, these really flimsy boats."
She said the government did not have “a clear enough analysis of the reasons why people are making this journey.”
