One person has drowned and another is critically ill after an inflatable dinghy carrying 66 migrants towards Britain ran into difficulty off the northern French coast.

French rescuers reached the distressed boat early Friday and found that one of its inflatable tubes had deflated. A number of migrants were in the cold waters of the Channel.

Two unconscious people were pulled from the sea. One was airlifted to the French port city of Calais, while the other could not be revived, the French coastguard said in a statement on Friday.

Rescue vessels picked up 66 people in all. Search operations were continuing, it added.

Dangerous journey

The Channel, which separates Britain and continental Europe, is one of busiest shipping lanes in the world.

More than 29,000 migrants have made the perilous crossing in small boats this year, according to Migration Watch UK, representing a fall of about one third in 2022.

In November 2021 at least 27 migrants died after a dinghy sank in the Channel, the highest known number of deaths in a single incident.