Four migrants, including a two-year-old child, died in two separate tragedies overnight Friday to Saturday while attempting to cross the Channel, French authorities said.
The body of a two-year-old child was found in a boat, while three adult migrants died while seeking to reach British shores in another boat, regional prefect Jacques Billant said on Saturday.
In Croatia, an overloaded van carrying migrants crashed Saturday, killing two people and injuring several others, police said.
Officers spotted a 鈥榲isibly overloaded van鈥� with German numberplates in the small city of Novska and tailed it 鈥榳ithout using audible or visual signals鈥�, a police statement said.
After noticing the police, the driver accelerated and veered off the road. The van overturned, crashing into a house. The driver and a passenger died.
Local media reports said around 25 people were injured, with nine in serious condition.
Police did not provide details about the identities of the migrants, but local media reports said they included citizens of Turkey and several countries in the Middle East.
The incident comes almost a month after another van carrying migrants crashed in eastern Croatia, injuring 14.
European Union-member Croatia has long been a major transit country for illegal migrants travelling on the so-called Balkan route hoping to enter Europe, with most passing through neighboring Bosnia.
According to the bloc鈥檚 border agency Frontex, nearly 100,000 Europe-bound migrants fleeing war or poverty took the Balkan route last year to enter the EU.