a day ago
Gunfire at French migrant camp kills one and wounds five including a child as adult and 17-year-old arrested
Gunfire at a migrant camp in northern France today left one person dead and five injured, including one child, as an adult and 17-year-old were arrested.
The shots near the Loon-Plage camp outside Dunkirk left two injured seriously and three others lightly, including the child understood to be just two years old, the northern city's prosecutor Charlotte Huet said.
French police have launched a murder inquiry and are investigating the incident as linked to organised crime.
The shooting took place at around 10am local time, or 11am GMT, close to a food distribution point.
Officers arrested the two men at the scene on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and possession of category A and B firearms. In France, Category A weapons are those illegal for members of the public to own, while category B are those that may be legal to hold with a licence, such as those used for sports events.
The camp, which houses around 1,500 people, has seen several people injured in shooting incidents in recent weeks and five were killed by gunfire on one day in December.
French media reports that those injured and killed are of Sudanese origin.
Paramedics and the French air ambulance rushed to the scene along with police and firefighters.
Many migrants with ambitions of reaching Britain stay in camps such as Loon-Plage before gathering on the shores of northern France hoping to make the perilous sea crossing.
France and Britain have pledged to crack down on people smugglers who charge steep fees for migrants to board often overloaded and unseaworthy boats.
French maritime authorities said that, on Thursday and Friday alone, they rescued 99 people from dinghies that were carrying too many people, adrift or taking in water.
On Friday, another 919 people arrived in 14 small boats after making the dangerous crossing from France.
That takes the 2025 total to 16,183 - 42 per cent up on the same date last year, and 79 per cent up on 2023.
The figure makes yesterday's arrivals the second highest number so far this year.
Fifty-two people, all travelling on the same boat, had disembarked on the English coast the day before, they said.
Another group of people were also seen disembarking from a Border Force vessel on Saturday after an incident aboard a small boat in the Channel.
Since the start of the year, at least 15 migrants have died at sea while trying to reach England, French authorities say.
Last year, more than 36,800 people crossed the Channel, up 25 percent from 2023, according to British figures.
According to French authorities, 78 migrants died in 2024 while trying to reach England aboard small boats, a record since the start of the trend in this area in 2018.
