Another migrant has died in the English Channel, on the day the number making the illegal crossing from France this year passes 30,000, GB News can exclusively reveal.
The female migrant died on Wednesday morning in the waters off Haderlot beach, between Boulogne and Calais.
French emergency services responded to reports of dozens of migrants in difficulty, as they waded out to try to clamber aboard a migrant boat offshore.
At least 70 migrants were rescued, including five people who were suffering from severe hypothermia.
The female migrant died on Wednesday morning in the waters off Haderlot beach, between Boulogne and Calais
The French coastguard said that a woman was unconscious and in cardiac arrest
The 277 arrivals, take the total Channel migrant numbers for the year so far to 30,144.
That milestone figure was reach less than a week after the numbers crossing from France this year overtook the total number of Channel migrants for the whole of 2023.
Maritime security sources have told GB News that on current trends, the UK was "on course to see well over 35,000 Channel migrant arrivals, perhaps as many as 40,000 by year's end."
Responding to the latest crossings, a Home Office spokesperson said: “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
As that rescue was taking place, hundreds of other migrants reached UK waters, taking the numbers crossing so far this year to more than 30,000
“The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay.
"We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.”