A migrant died Wednesday, October 30, as he tried to cross the English Channel to Britain, French authorities said, bringing to 57 the number of deaths this year linked to crossings in overcrowded dinghies.
The man fell into the sea off Hardelot in northern France, where a dozen other people were also found in the water, the French Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and North Sea said. A helicopter transported him to land where he was declared dead. It said many people tried to cross overnight as the weather conditions were good.
Rescue services, including firetrucks with their lights flashing, had been deployed on the shore. Rescuers led around 20 migrants into nearby buildings to warm up. Some three kilometers away from the coast, journalists saw six soaked migrants, some wrapped in survival blankets, sitting on a bench.
A member of the Utopia 56 charity working with migrants said that several people were suffering from "severe hypothermia" after falling into the sea.
With British and French authorities seeking to crack down on people smuggling gangs, activists say traffickers are now herding larger groups of migrants into increasingly overcrowded and unsafe boats.