UK charges teen with manslaughter after fatal migrant capsize
Stay tuned with 24 News HD Android App
A 19-year-old appeared in court on Thursday charged with the manslaughter of four people who died trying to cross the Channel to the UK in a small boat.
Ibrahima Bah, who has previously been charged with facilitating illegal entry to the UK, was remanded in custody and ordered to appear at a further hearing on May 15.
The charges relate to the capsize of an inflatable boat packed with migrants which got into trouble in freezing temperatures in December last year.
A rescue operation plucked 39 people from the water and took them to safety. But four others were pronounced dead.
Their identities remain unknown. A coroner's inquest has been told they may have been from Afghanistan and Senegal.
The capsize came just over a year after at least 27 people died in the Channel trying to reach the UK from northern France.
More than 45,000 migrants attempted the perilous crossing last year, a record.
The UK government vowed to tighten the country's borders after it left the European Union.