- This is the third such death in a week, according to French maritime police.
A UK-bound migrant has died trying to cross the English Channel after the overcrowded vessel she was travelling in deflated and sank, authorities say.
The woman, whose identity has not been revealed, is the sixth person to die in such horrific circumstances in a week.
She is believed to be of Sudanese origin and was among 86 people who left a beach near Calais in the early hours of this morning.
“A distress call was made shortly after midnight, but initially the people on board did not want to be rescued,” said a source from the French emergency services.
“Navy personnel on board the Cormoran patrol vessel initially rescued five people from the sea, but those still on board the deflating rubber dinghy were also in serious difficulty.
“There was one unconscious person among them, and efforts were made to resuscitate him, but he was soon pronounced dead.
“The ship was massively overloaded and the sea conditions were very rough.”
A criminal investigation was opened last Friday after four migrants bound for the UK without life jackets drowned when their overcrowded rubber dinghy capsized off Boulogne-sur-Mer, 20 miles southwest of Calais.
Another person drowned two days ago off Gravelines, near Dunkirk, after leaving the beach.
Prosecutors believe the “poor quality and underpowered” boats used in all cases were operated by people smugglers charging around £1,000 per person.
This latest death brings to 22 the number of people who have died this year alone trying to reach the English coast to claim asylum.
The statement comes two days after a British Border Force ship returned people to France for the first time.
It emerged yesterday that British and French teams worked together to rescue a group of migrants off Gravelines in northern France on Wednesday.
Patrols discovered people in the water, triggering a rescue operation with the help of the British Border Force and the RNLI.
Some 59 people were rescued on board the French vessel PSP Cormoran, including one unconscious person who could not be resuscitated by the medical team.
A British ship, the Border Force Ranger, also rescued 13 people from the water, and the two ships took the group of people to Calais.
This is believed to be the first time a British ship has picked up migrants in French waters and been asked to return them to France.
However, government sources told MailOnline there was “no change in policy or approach” and that it was “simply the way the operation was conducted”.
A Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokeswoman said: “Her Majesty’s Coastguard received a report of a small boat in difficulty in French waters near Calais at around 2.40pm on 17 July.
“A Border Force vessel and an RNLI lifeboat have been sent to support the French vessels in the operation, which is being coordinated by the French authorities.”
The French coastguard added that they continued to search the scene until nightfall and that no other people were found in the water.
A Home Office source said: “There is ongoing cooperation on these types of rescue missions and the decision to bring people back is usually based on the conditions at sea and the welfare of those who have been in the water.
“There is no change in policy or approach, so it is simply the way the operation was conducted.”
Last Friday, four people were killed after a boat carrying asylum seekers capsized at 4:30am off Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France.
More than 12,000 people have already crossed the Channel this year, according to provisional figures from the Home Office published in mid-June.
The figure is 18 percent higher than the same date last year, when 10,472 people made the crossing.
