Twenty-two-year-old Kolkata girl Amrita Das has crossed the English Channel, completing the 34-km challenge in 13 hours and 42 minutes. Amrita began at 6.19 am (GMT) from the Shakespeare beach in Dover, England and swam across the channel, reaching France at 8.01 pm (GMT) Yesterday. A graduate from Raja Rammohan College, Amrita was accompanied by father Ashoke Kumar during the mission. The swimmer, a resident of Amherst Street in north Kolkata, has also earned the distinction of finishing fourth in 81-km Murshidabad swimming competition in the Bhagirathi river in 2007. Mirhir Sen of India was first Asian to cross the channel in 1958 and Bula Chowdhury was first girl in the world to have made it twice in the 80s and 90s.