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

The father of a baby girl killed in the English Channel says he fought desperately to hold on to her, but she slipped from his hands as people piled on to him and into the water when their dinghy capsized.

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.