One dead and scores rescued after migrant boat sinks off French coast
One person died overnight after a small boat carrying migrants across the Channel ran into difficulties, French authorities said on Monday.
The 'overloaded' boat sank off the coast of the northern French town of Boulogne-sur-Mer, according to the Maritime Prefect of the Channel and the North Sea.
During the rescue operation, a French Navy helicopter spotted an unconscious person in the water. They were later declared dead by a medical team onboard the French tug Abeille Normandie.
More than 60 others survived after being pulled from the water, including a mother and child who were airlifted to hospital in France.
The Abeille Normandie recovered 50 people, while two British boats — a Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) vessel and a UK Border Force boat — rescued a further 11.
In the seven days to Saturday, 1,125 migrants reached the UK on small boats after crossing the Channel, which is one of the busiest waterways in the world.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised to clamp down on people smugglers who facilitate small boat crossings.
Last week, Starmer caused controversy by warning that the UK risked becoming an 'island of strangers' unless more was done to cut immigration numbers.
His comment followed the anti-immigration Reform UK party's victory in local elections on 1 May.
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