A migrant died after falling into the sea while trying to cross the English Channel to Britain in a small boat packed with people, French authorities said.
The man was among a dozen people who fell into the water off Hardelot in northern France, the French Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and North Sea said.
He was pulled from the sea and transported to land by helicopter, where he was tragically pronounced dead.
With this, this year the number of deaths related to crossing in overcrowded boats rises to a total of 57.
Many people have attempted to make the dangerous crossing today, setting off early this morning due to good weather conditions, French authorities said.
An image from May shows migrants waiting to be rescued after their boat’s generator broke down in French waters.
On Wednesday morning, a deflated blue and black boat lay on the beach, a journalist at the scene reported.
Rescue services, including fire trucks with their lights flashing, had been deployed to the shore.
Rescuers took about 20 migrants to a nearby building to warm up.
About three kilometers from the coast, journalists saw six soaked migrants, some wrapped in survival blankets, sitting on a bench.
A member of the charity Utopia 56 which works with migrants said several people suffered “severe hypothermia” after falling into the sea.
As British and French authorities look to crack down on people-smuggling gangs, activists say smugglers are now herding larger groups of migrants onto increasingly overcrowded and unsafe boats.
A group of people believed to be migrants are taken to Dover, Kent, aboard a Border Force vessel following an incident with a small boat in the English Channel today.
Celestin Pichaud of Utopia 56 said the situation was “beyond dramatic.”
“For several months, one person dies every five days” trying to cross the English Channel, he said.
“Land and sea rescue services are completely overwhelmed.”
More and more migrants and asylum seekers have crossed the English Channel since 2018, despite repeated warnings about the dangerous journey.
Deadly drownings and crushes on overcrowded boats since January have made 2024 the deadliest year for migrants trying to reach Britain by sea since 2018.
An Indian died on Sunday off the French coast while trying to cross the English Channel.
On Wednesday last week, a woman and two men died after their small boat sank in the English Channel off the northern port city of Calais.
The week before, a four-month-old baby died on an overloaded ship heading to the United Kingdom.
More than 26,000 migrants have landed on British shores since January 1, according to figures from the UK Home Office.