Five migrants have died during an attempt to cross the English Channel, French police have said.
The French coastguard confirmed there was a failed attempt to cross the Channel and police were operating at a beach following the incident on Tuesday morning.
The spokesperson said there were several “lifeless bodies”.
Latest updates on Channel migrant rescue – Politics Hub
The boat had 110 people on board, Reuters said, quoting the local state authority in Northern France.
Around a hundred migrants have already been rescued by a French navy tug, and are being taken to Boulogne, French newspaper La Voix Du Nord said.
Emergency services picked up the father of a four-year-old girl, who was “in tears on the beach”, the paper said.
It comes hours after the UK’s government’s controversial Rwanda bill – intended to deter migrants from crossing the Channel in small boats – was passed.
On Tuesday morning, Sky News filmed a suspected migrant boat attempting to cross the Channel. We do not know if it is the boat which has failed to make the crossing. The latest updates on the migrant crisis is here.
Migrants in the channel
Sky’s Europe correspondent, Adam Parsons, in Dunkirk, said at least four vessels were working off the coast of Wimereux as well as helicopters and there were “reports of survivors”.
Sea conditions could not be blamed, he said, as they were “perfect”.
He said: “If you were trying to cross the Channel in a small boat, this is the day you would do it, so if you can’t make it on a day like this, it shows how dangerous it is.”
The Channel between France and Britain is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and currents are strong, making the crossing on small boats dangerous.
People smugglers typically overload rickety dinghies, leaving them barely afloat and at risk of being lashed by the waves as they try to reach British shores.
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