The little girl was pulled out of the Aa river canal by rescuers but "couldn’t be resuscitated," reports French regional newspaper La Voix du Nord.

Rescuers' several attempts to save the child, who suffered a heart attack and stopped breathing, were fruitless, French Prosecutor for Dunkerque, Charlotte Huet, told La Voix du Nord.

The 7-year-old boarded the small boat with her father and mother, who is pregnant, and three siblings, La Voix du Nord reports. Six other children were found on the boat by the rescuers.

According to the British broadcaster ITV, 16 people were on board in total when the vessel sank in the canal.

Police and firefighters were alerted to the sinking boat by a walker, reports ITV. Local prefect Bertrand Gaume said the boat had likely been "stolen" and was not large enough to carry the amount of people on board.

'I received a call about 7:30 in the morning'

"I received a call about 7:30 in the morning from the police," local mayor Daniel Deschodt said in a video posted on La Voix du Nord. "They explained that a group of migrants had been found on board a small boat in the Aa canal."

Deschodt went on to describe the boat as "very small" -- the kind a fisherman might use.

"I left home immediately to open up the town hall and the sports hall to provide a place where the migrants could come," he said.

Deschodt said the migrants needed a change of clothes, as they were soaking wet upon arrival.

Some of the migrants on board were taken to hospital, and others were brought to the sports hall.

"They were able to take a shower and warm up," continued Deschodt.

Also read: One dies, two missing after attempts to cross the Channel

Local charity Hauts-de-Flandre Insertion brought in clothes for the migrants so they could warm up more quickly, Deschodt said.

From the video shot by the newspaper, the cries of small children can be heard as town hall officials speak to some of the migrants.

'This is a new phenomenon'

Many of those on board the boat appear to have been women and children.

Deschodt said this was the first time his town had needed to help migrants who had run into difficulty on the water.

"This is a new phenomenon. About a month ago, another boat attempted to leave from here, but that has been all so far. I think they are starting to leave from further inland now because there are just too many people at the coast."

This section of the canalized river Aa runs for just over 18 kilometers between Watten and Gravelines, where it opens into the North Sea.

Gravelines is located between the port towns of Dunkerque and Calais on the northern French coast.

The nearby Canche canal has already seen several attempts to cross the Channel from its banks, particularly around the town of Étaples, according to the La Voix Du Nord.

The authorities there have strung floating obstructions across the canal to try and prevent migrants from launching journeys to the UK there.

People are 'leaving from further afield to evade the police controls'

A spokesperson for the organization Utopia 56, which works with migrants across France, said that "there had been many attempts to cross over night [Saturday, March 2 into Sunday March 3]" and that there would be many more.

"People are taking more and more risks," explained the spokesperson, "and leaving from further and further afield to try and evade the police controls positioned along the coast."

Also read: Young migrant jailed in first 'boat pilot' manslaughter conviction

The Dunkerque prosecutor has opened an inquiry into the incident, looking into charges of manslaughter, injury and association with a criminal organization to smuggle migrants across borders. The identity of those on board and their country of origin has not yet been released, reported La Voix du Nord.

British broadcaster BBC reported that "several people are in custody" after the incident.

A memorial service will be held at 6:30 p.m. local time in Richelieu park in Calais on March 4, confirmed the newspaper.

Other rescues over the weekend

Also at the weekend, the French prefecture for Calais, the Channel and the North Sea released a press release on March 3 confirming their rescue boats had helped at least 78 people to safety in the Calais area.

"Overnight on March 2, as well as in the day of March 3, our regional surveillance center (CROSS) Gris-Nez was informed about several attempts to cross the Channel, and several boats that had got into difficulty off the coast of Calais," stated the press release.

On Saturday night, they found 20 migrants on board an inflatable boat that had deflated and was suffering problems with its motor. They took the 20 migrants back to the port of Dunkerque where they were looked after by the fire and emergency services, as well as the border police.

On Sunday morning, they were called to another boat in trouble off Hourdel, states the press release.

However, the outgoing tide and vanishing waters didn’t allow their boat to get near enough to the struggling vessel.

The boat carrying the migrants got stuck on a sandbank, and the migrants tried to walk back to the beach on foot. The rescue services sent shallower boats to assist and found 11 migrants who had been shipwrecked on the sand. They were taken back to Hourdel.

Arrivals in the UK

Later that day, 47 people were rescued after their boat got into trouble off Cayeux-sur-Mer. They were taken to Boulogne and looked after by the emergency services present there.

According to UK government statistics, 327 people made it across the Channel to the UK on March 3 on eight different boats. Fewer crossings had been detected in the days preceding that crossing, but on February 28, nearly 250 people arrived in the UK on five small boats.

Since the beginning of 2024, more than 2,000 migrants have crossed to the UK from northern France.

This is less than the number of crossing made in the same time period in 2023, but more tha the number made in 2022.