The Times:

Migrants are being forced to board dangerously overcrowded small boats at gunpoint to make the journey across the Channel, sources have told The Times.

An Iranian woman has become the first migrant to die during a crossing that has been attempted by more than 1,200 people — many of them from her country — this year.

She is missing presumed drowned after a boat carrying her and 19 others, including several children, got into difficulties in worsening winds and rain off Kent last Friday afternoon.

The British and French authorities are hunting the people smugglers who arranged the fatal crossing and collected tens of thousands of pounds from those on board.

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