LILLE, France, June 15, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Gunfire near a migrant camp in northern France killed one person Saturday, a prosecutor said, after authorities rescued almost 100 people trying to cross the Channel to Britain in two days.

The shots near the Loon-Plage camp outside Dunkirk also wounded five people, two seriously and three others lightly, including a child, the northern city's prosecutor Charlotte Huet said.

A police source told AFP that all the victims, including those killed, were Sudanese nationals and that the injured child was a baby.

An adult and a 17-year-old were arrested following the shots, the prosecutor said. Their nationalities were not immediately made known.

An aid worker told AFP that more than 1,500 people live in and around the camp.

Many migrants with ambitions of reaching Britain gather on the shores of northern France hoping to make the perilous sea crossing.

France and Britain have vowed to crack down on people-smugglers who charge steep fees for migrants to board often overloaded and unseaworthy boats.

French maritime authorities said that on Thursday and Friday alone they rescued 99 people from dinghies that were carrying too many people, adrift or taking in water.

British authorities said that, on Friday, 919 people landed on its shore after crossing the Channel in 14 small boats.

Fifty-two people, all travelling on the same boat, had disembarked on the English coast the day before, they said.

Since the start of the year, at least 15 migrants have died at sea while trying to reach England, French authorities say.

Last year, more than 36,800 people crossed the Channel, up 25 percent from 2023, according to British figures.

According to French authorities, 78 migrants died in 2024 while trying to reach England aboard small boats, a record since the start of the trend in 2018.