A migrant has died after a small boat heading for the UK 'collapsed' overnight, French authorities have said.
The disaster unfolded at around 3am on Monday following a Mayday call to the Gris-Nez rescue centre on France’s northern coast.
The Abeille Normandie tug scrambled to the scene, along with a lifeboat from Dungeness, Kent, and the UK Border Force Ranger vessel.
A French Navy helicopter assisting the crews spotted an unconscious person in the water. They were pulled from the water onto the French tug by RNLI crews but declared dead by medics on board.
‘Initially, the Abeille Normandie was monitoring the stricken boat,’ said a spokesman for France’s Channel Prefecture.
