A rescue operation is “ongoing” in the English Channel after a migrant vessel got into difficulty off the French coast, The Independent has learned.

       The incident occurred at around 10am on Thursday morning roughly 13 nautical miles off Dunkirk.

       A cargo ship alerted French authorities that a boat of around 40 migrants was in distress, adding that some of them were in the water. A Belgian Air Force helicopter later confirmed that the dinghy was sinking.

       One of the asylum seekers was found unconscious by the cargo ship’s life boat after reportedly suffering a cardio-respiratory arrest. They were then transferred to the Flamant, a French patrol boat, before being airlifted to hospital in Calais, the Maritime Prefecture for the Channel and North Sea confirmed.

       Some passengers were brought to safety on the same Belgian Air Force helicopter, while others were helped by nearby fishing boats.

       This comes the day after 108 migrants were rescued while attempting to make the crossing from France to England on four separate dinghies. One of them was taken to hospital in Dunkirk for treatment.

       More than10,000 people have made the dangerous journey across the world’s busiest shipping lane so far in 2021, far exceeding the 8,410 people who did so last year. On 19 July, 430 asylum seekers reached the Kent shore, more than on any other previous day.

       Many people have lost their lives while travelling by boat from France to England to claim asylum. This includes Rasoul Iran-Nezhad and his wife Shiva Mohammad Panahi, who died along with their three children when their dinghy capsized in the Channel on 27 October, 2020.

       Some asylum seekers are thought to have made it across from France on Thursday, with Kent Police confirming that its officers were called “following a report of suspected migrants in Ramsgate shortly at around 11.30am”.