Boy, 6, and man die in horrific tourist boat accident in Paris

Ten other passengers on the vessel leapt overboard when the disaster happened near the famous Notre Dame cathedral.

Rescuers said the boat is thought to have struck the bridge as it swerved to avoid a Bateau-Mouche tourist boat moored at the riverbank.

A six-year-old boy and a 45-year-old man both died after a tourist boat sank in the River Seine

Police divers raced to the scene to free the 45-year-man and child trapped in an air pocket in the sunken boat.

They were brought to the surface within 20 minutes in a critical condition, but both died within hours of the accident at around 10pm on Saturday.

The other passengers - five adults and five children and 3 to 14 - were plucked from the river by rescue boats suffering slight injuries.

All the victims were French, officials said.

French emergency services managed to save the 10 other passengers

The boat was raised from the riverbed overnight  and was being examined to determine the cause of the accident on Saturday.

A Paris fire service spokesman said: "It appears the boat hit a pillar of the bridge as it moved to avoid a larger boat, but we are unsure whether it struck the larger Bateau Mouche boat as well."

The captain and first officer of the Bateau Mouche were later arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving and causing accidental injuries.

They have been placed "garde à vue" - the first step to formal charges in France.

Rescuers searched the scene for survivors of the fatal incident

The 45-year-old victim died at 4am in Paris’s Georges-Pompidou hospital, while the six-year-old boy died at 8am in the Necker hospital.

Hundreds of tourist boats ply the River Seine every day and accidents were extremely rare, officials added.