One dead, dozens rescued in latest Channel crossing attempt | France

One person has died trying to cross the English Channel in an overloaded dinghy, as a number of smaller boats made the dangerous journey over the weekend.

Thirty-four more people have been rescued from a “migrant boat” off the port of Calais in northern France after a call for help was made in the early hours of Sunday morning, French authorities said.

The latest incident follows the deaths of at least six people in three separate incidents in the English Channel between July 12 and 19. Children were among a group of around 50 people who were brought to Dover on Saturday aboard a UK Border Patrol vessel.

The person who died on Sunday was found unconscious during the rescue operation in the early hours of the morning, said the French maritime prefecture Premar, which told Agence France-Presse that this death was the result of a “new phenomenon of people dying at sea and not by drowning”. [but] by illness or crushing”.

They were pronounced dead after being transported to hospital in Boulogne-sur-Mer by a French navy helicopter.

At least 75 people were on board the ship. While some people were evacuated, others refused the help offered during the rescue and the ship was allowed to continue its route, under the surveillance of a French patrol boat.

“Given the risk of people falling overboard or being injured in the event of forced intervention, the decision was taken to allow the other people on the boat to continue on their way,” Premar said in a statement.

In the week to Saturday, 342 people crossed the Channel on seven boats, according to figures from the UK Home Office. More than 12,000 people have already made the crossing this year, according to provisional figures released in mid-June.

This figure is 18% higher than that recorded at the same time last year, when 10,472 people made the crossing.