A SCHOOLGIRL has died after a boat carrying 16 migrants capsized on its way to the UK, French authorities say.

French authorities said the tragedy struck as the boat tried to cross the Channel on Sunday.

The youngster was just seven.

The boat “was not appropriately sized to carry so many people,” the local authority said in a statement, causing it to capsize soon after people boarded in the Aa canal a few kilometres from the coast.

It added that the girl’s parents, who were travelling with three more of their children, were taken to a hospital in Dunkirk.

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