A man has drowned and 30 other people have been brought to safety by French rescue services after they tried to cross the Channel to the UK. The man fell overboard when the small migrant boat got into difficulty close to the French coast at Berck-sur-Mer, south of Boulogne. Most of those rescued were on board the dinghy, but five people were picked up from a sandbank. Friday’s drowning is thought to be the first fatality in the Channel in 2022. Prosecutors said the man who died on Friday was believed to be in his 20s and of Sudanese origin.

Local media said the alarm was raised when someone on land spotted the boat getting into difficulty in freezing temperatures, possibly when they were trapped by the tide. Some of those rescued were suffering from hypothermia, according to officials.(BBC)…[+]