A migrant has died and another is missing after their bid to cross the English Channel to to the UK led to tragedy, according to French authorities.
The person was unconscious when they were pulled from the water and pronounced dead when rescuers returned to the dock, it is reported.
More than 400 people were rescued during a French-led rescue operation in the Strait of Pas-de-Calais on Tuesday night and into Wednesday, the authorities said.
Searches were carried out after rescued migrants said someone had fallen into the water, according to the authorities.
It comes as figures showed more than 20,000 migrants have travelled to the UK in small boats so far this year.
On Tuesday, UK authorities rescued or intercepted 456 people who had navigated busy shipping lanes from France in boats.
More than a dozen migrants were rescued from a sinking dinghy by a ferry on Wednesday as it headed from Dover to Calais.
The Isle of Inishmore captain said to passengers: “We had to stop and rescue 13 migrants in distress whose boat had run out of fuel and was sinking,” reported The Sun.
Footage has also been posted of migrants arriving in Dover on Tuesday after being helped by the RNLI.
Last week a migrant was feared drowned off the Essex coast that led to a major search and rescue operation taking place. Two other people, believed to be from Somalia, were rescued after a coordinated search and rescue mission near the port of Harwich.
According to data compiled by the PA news agency, prior to the latest arrivals at least 19,756 people had already reached the UK so far this year, bringing the total to more than 20,200.
This is more than double the total for the whole of 2020.
It comes as Home Secretary Priti Patel has begun paying the first instalments of a £54 million deal agreed with France which will see greater efforts made to intercept and stop Channel crossings by migrants.
