Ibrahima Bah was initially charged with facilitating illegal entry to the UK following the incident in December last year Four people were pronounced dead LONDON: A 19-year-old man has been charged with manslaughter after four people died trying to cross the Channel to the UK in a small boat, police said on Wednesday. Ibrahima Bah was initially charged with facilitating illegal entry to the UK following the incident in December last year. A boat packed with migrants got into trouble in freezing temperatures, sparking a rescue operation that brought 39 people to safety. But four people were pronounced dead. Their identities are still unknown but a coroner’s inquest has been told they may have been from Afghanistan and Senegal. Kent Police in southeast England said Bah was due to face trial later this year for the facilitating illegal entry charge. He will make a first appearance in court on the more serious charge before magistrates in Folkestone on Thursday. The capsizal came just over a year after at least 27 people died in the Channel trying to reach the UK from northern France. Record numbers of people attempted the perilous crossing last year, despite claims by the UK government that the country’s departure from the European Union would help tighten borders. Latest figures show that 4,844 people have been detected in small boats and brought ashore so far this year. Ministers have proposed tough measures to crackdown on the practice, including a proposal to deport failed asylum seekers to Rwanda, which has caused a human rights outcry.