THE DAD of a baby girl who died in English Channel says she slipped from his hands into the water as he fought to hold on to her. Maryam Bahez was just 40 days old when she drowned in the Channel

Maryam Bahez died after the overcrowded boat she was on started to take on water just 100 metres into the journey from France.

The dad of a baby who died as her family crossed the English Channel in a small boat has described the moment he realised he had lost his daughter.

French prosecutors opened a criminal investigation Friday into the death of a baby pulled from the English Channel after an overloaded boat carrying migrants got in to trouble off the northern coast of France.

Aras Bahez said Maryam, who was just 40 days old, was wrapped in a black bin bag to keep dry, when his wife and two other sons boarded the overcrowded vessel in France for England.