A Syrian migrant was probably “crushed to death” in a leaking dinghy while trying to cross the English Channel to Britain, French authorities have said.

It was the first reported death at sea of a migrant seeking to travel to Britain from France so far this year.

“Last night, 30 migrants tried to get into the water on the beach at Sangatte,” on the northern coast of France, the Pas-de-Calais prefecture told AFP.

Only “a few minutes later” the group disembarked from the leaking dinghy. On the floor of the boat, a Syrian man in his twenties was found, the prefecture said, adding that he had suffered cardiac arrest.