Woman dies in Channel crossing attempt

File photo of a French rescue vessel with a group of migrants on an inflatable dingy

A woman has died while attempting to cross the English Channel on board a "heavily loaded" boat that was "in difficulty", the French maritime authorities have said.

Officials said that at 04:30 BST, a French patrol boat was on site and some of the people on the overloaded vessel off the coast of Calais requested assistance.

One person was found "unconscious" and was taken to a hospital in Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France via helicopter, where she later died.

Thirty-four other people were rescued but several on the vessel refused assistance and remained on board, authorities said.

Overnight, a migrant vessel leaving the Calais coast was reported to a French operational surveillance and rescue centre.

There were 75 people on board the "crammed" vessel, according to the AFP news agency.

French maritime authorities said in a statement that two patrol units were deployed to find the boat and arrived at around 04:30 BST to find it was "in difficulty".

Some people on board requested assistance and the patrol units started rescuing people "in distress" and began moving people off the boat, they added.

They said: "During the transfer, it was observed that one person on the migrant vessel was unconscious; the person was taken on board and given first aid immediately."

A helicopter airlifted the woman to a hospital in Boulogne-sur-Mer where she died.

The French maritime prefecture said there is a "new phenomenon of people dying at sea not by drowning but by illness or in a crush".

The 34 people who were taken off the boat were brought to the port of Calais and taken care of by rescue services and the border police.

The French maritime authorities said several people on board the migrant vessel refused assistance and remained on board.

"Considering the risks of people falling overboard or getting injured during a forced intervention, the decision was made to allow the remaining individuals on the vessel to continue their journey," they said.

Four people died trying to cross the English Channel on 12 July after the boat they were on capsized and they fell into the sea off the coast of Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France.

More than 14,000 people have crossed the Channel so far this year.

After winning the general election, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer scrapped the previous Conservative government's plan to send some people who arrive in the UK illegally to Rwanda. He had previously pledged to divert £75m from the policy to set up the Border Security Command.

Following Labour's election victory, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said her party would "tackle the root of the problem" by targeting the criminal smuggling gangs "making millions out of small boat crossings, undermining our border security and putting lives at risk".

She told broadcasters the recruitment of a new border security commander as well as new cross-border police represented a "major upgrade in law enforcement".