'At least five migrants' die during attempt to cross the Channel

At least five migrants have died after trying to cross the Channel to the UK, with ‘lifeless bodies’ found in the water.

A police operation is underway after a failed attempt to cross to the UK this morning, the French coast guard confirmed.

Hundreds set off in flimsy craft from France in the early hours of Tuesday but got into difficulty off the coast at Boulogne sur Mer.

An emergency operation was launched by the French coastguard and by 11am at least five people were reported drowned.

Many others were being rescued and taken to the beach at Wimereux, near Boulogne.

Dozens of migrants were seen on a boat in Calais this morning. It is not believed to be the same boat that got into trouble

Pictured: File image of migrants on a small inflatable boat in the Channel, striving to reach Dover

French newspaper La Voix Du Nord reported that at least five people had died, but officials would only confirm that several ‘lifeless bodies’ had been found.

The paper said emergency workers rescued the father of a four-year-old girl, who was in tears on the beach.

a spokesman for the French coastguard said: ‘The situation is ongoing and multiple search and rescue teams are in the area.’

It came just hours after Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda Bill to deter migrants from making the perilous crossing was passed in Parliament.

The tragedy this morning follows five migrants dying while trying to get to Britain on January 14.

Some 29,000 people reached the UK in small boats in 2023, despite the British government saying that stopping them was a priority.

It is trying to push ahead with a plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda, in Africa.

In August last year, six people died after a boat carrying migrants sank in the Channel off the French coast.

In November 2021, at least 27 migrants died after a dinghy sank while heading to the UK – the highest recorded number of deaths from a single incident.

This is a breaking news story. More to follow.

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