An Iranian man has appeared before a judge in France after four migrants died when their boat capsized as they attempted to cross the Channel.
The 37-year-old is believed to have been piloting the boat when it sank off the coast of Dunkirk on Tuesday.
Four members of the same family, including two young children, died and a baby and two adults are believed to be missing.
The man was brought before an investigative judge on Friday with a view to being charged with manslaughter, Dunkirk public prosecutor Sebastien Pieve said.
It is understood that the boat had set off for the UK with as many as 28 people on board, despite being designed to carry just six or seven.
Those known to have died in the tragedy are Rasoul Iran-Nejad and his wife Shiva Mohammad Panahi, both 35, along with their children Anita, nine, and Armin, six.
Their son Artin, just 15 months old, was also on board and has not been found.
It is believed that none on board had been issued with life jackets.
Mr Iran-Nejad’s cousin paid tribute to the family on Thursday, saying their relatives are ‘devastated’.
He also called on the French Government to help with the cost of repatriating their bodies, believed to be more than £90,000.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said the deaths were ‘an ultimate tragedy’ and one that ‘could have been avoided’.
Fifteen people were rescued on Tuesday, with eight suffering from hypothermia and two in cardiac arrest.
The weather and sea conditions at the time were ‘extremely unfavourable’, according to coastguards, and the boat was carrying too many people.
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