60 migrants rescued after sinking off the coast of France
One person died and more than 60 others were rescued after a small boat carrying migrants sank in the English Channel off the coast of Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, authorities announced on Monday.
Authorities described the boat as "overloaded" and it sank while trying to cross one of the busiest waterways in the world.
During the rescue operation, a French Navy helicopter spotted an unconscious person in the water. The medical crew on board the French tugboat Abeille Normandie later confirmed his death.
Rescue teams managed to pull more than 60 survivors from the water, including a mother and child who were airlifted to a hospital in France for treatment.
The Abeille Normandie boat rescued around 50 people, while two British ships — one belonging to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and the other to the British Border Force — rescued an additional 11 people.
This incident comes amid a rise in the number of migrants crossing the English Channel, with more than 1,125 people arriving in the United Kingdom via small boats in the previous week.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to tighten measures against traffickers who organize illegal boat trips across the channel.