Four people confirmed dead after incident in English Channel - UK government statement

Four people have died following an incident involving a small migrant boat in the English Channel between Britain and France, the British government said in a statement.

"At 0305 (GMT) today, authorities were alerted to an incident in the Channel concerning a migrant small boat in distress," a government spokesperson said in a statement.

"After a coordinated search and rescue operation led by HM Coastguard, it is with regret that there have been four confirmed deaths as a result of this incident, investigations are ongoing and we will provide further information in due course."