Woman ‘crushed to death on overcrowded dinghy’ crossing the Channel

A woman has died while attempting to cross the English Channel after the ‘heavily loaded’ inflatable dinghy she was travelling in got into ‘difficulty’ near Calais, French authorities have said.

Passengers called emergency services at around 5am on Sunday after fears that their boat will sink.

When a French patrol reached the scene, they found the woman ‘unconscious’ after ‘being crushed’ in the vessel.

She was helicoptered to a hospital in Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France, but she was later pronounced dead.

‘Rescuers saw an unconscious woman on board,’ said a spokesperson for the French emergency services.

‘She was rapidly taken off and given first aid treatment, but she died on her way to hospital.’

The woman – who has not been identified – was the seventh person to have died in such circumstances in July alone.

It led to the emergency services source saying: ‘She was nowhere near the water, but succumbed to being crushed by the amount of people around her.

‘Migrants are drowning in the water, but the new phenomenon of people dying inside the boats is becoming very serious indeed.’

A total of 34 people, out of 75, were rescued from the overcrowded vessel, while the rest were allowed to continue on their treacherous journey to across the Channel to reach British shores.

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