A teenager has been charged with people smuggling after four people died when a small boat crossing the English Channel capsized.

Ibrahima Bah, 19, of no fixed address, has been charged with facilitating attempted illegal entry into the UK, Kent Police said today.

Bah has been remanded in custody and will stand before Folkestone Magistrates’ Court next Monday.

The Crown Prosecution Service authorised the charge again Bah following the arrest of a man on Friday.

The tragedy came just a day after prime minister Rishi Sunak announced plans to clamp down on people making the perilous journeys across the Channel.

The authorities were alerted to reports of a small boat in distress at around 3:05am on Wednesday, setting off a coordinated rescue with the coast guard and Royal Navy.

Wrenching video footage showed a fishing crew aboard the Arcturus pulling people precariously clinging to rope on the side of a partially deflated dinghy.

Further clips showed panicked people struggling in the frigid and turbulent waters of the Channel as rescue lifeboats hurry towards them.

At around 2am, the Arcturus made a tight turn in the Channel between Dungeness and the French port Boulogne-sur-Mer, according to vessel tracking data.

Ben Squires, who owns the boat, told ITV News that his crew was fishing when they spotted a sinking ‘rigid’ boat.

‘It looks to be that the bottom of the rigid inflatable boat with the migrants on had fallen away – so you had all these people in the water, in cold conditions,’ he said.

‘We’re talking about human beings and people’s lives, and lives have been lost today,’ Squires added, but I’m really glad that we managed to save 31.’

Following a rescue operation involving the Royal Navy, French navy, Coastguard, RNLI lifeboats, ambulance service and police, 39 people were saved.

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