Four migrants have died while attempting to cross the English Channel to the UK.

The incident happened in the early hours of Sunday morning off the coast of France “when a boat left the beach, people found themselves in difficulty at sea to reach the boat”, according to local media, citing the maritime prefecture.

One other person was reportedly injured during the incident in Wimereux, Pas-de-Calais.

The migrants were trying to reach a boat in freezing water in an effort to cross the Channel, a spokeswoman from the maritime prefecture told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

She added that the incident took place at around 2am local time (3am UK time).

An intervention boat “which was on patrol in the area launched its boat to rescue the shipwrecked people” before the crew “identified inanimate and unconscious people to the water”, the spokeswoman told AFP.

It comes after the first migrants to cross the Channel to the UK in 2024 were recorded on Saturday morning after 27 days of no crossings – the longest gap in small boat arrivals for just over five years.

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