Two migrants died while attempting to cross the Channel in a small boat on Wednesday, while British rescuers saved several others in a separate incident.
A small boat packed with 60 people capsized two hours after leaving the French town of Neufchatel-Hardelot in the afternoon.
French maritime authorities said while 58 adults were rescued in the shipwreck, including several who were hypothermic, a helicopter discovered two missing people and confirmed they were dead.
The victims were a man and a woman in their 30s, news agency AFP reported, but details of where they were from are unclear.
Fire boat crews could not resuscitate the two migrants, France’s Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea said in a statement.
A woman found in difficulty at sea was airlifted to a nearby beach and handed over to firefighters, the authority said.
A manslaughter investigation has been opened by Boulogne-sur-Mer prosecutor Guirec Le Bras.
The prosecutor said that the dinghy, which capsized less than a kilometre from the French shore, was among several other small boats that left a beach near Neufchatel-Hardelot on Wednesday morning.
The last Channel deaths were reported on August 12 when six migrants drowned after their boat capsized.
Responding to Wednesday's deaths, Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrant rights director, said: “We are heartbroken by this loss of life and our immediate thoughts are with the family and friends who have lost their loved ones.
“The new Home Secretary must finally be the one to face up to reality.
“People will continue to attempt dangerous Channel crossings while they are without safe access to fair and efficient asylum procedures on each side of the water – including safe routes to the UK for people whose family and other connections are here.
“We urge ministers to radically change their focus – rather than trying to avoid all responsibility for asylum, the UK must accept its part in providing safety and encourage other countries to do the same.”
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “This is yet another appalling and preventable tragedy that demonstrates yet again the urgent need for safe routes so men women and children from countries such as Afghanistan don’t have to take dangerous journeys across the world’s busiest shipping lane.”
Shortly after 8pm on Wednesday, in a separate incident, several people were rescued by British lifeboat crews following an attempted small boat crossing in the Channel.
Details about whether there were injuries and the number of people involved had yet to be confirmed.
The coastguard helicopter and the RNLI were among those alerted.
Photographs of the scene showed groups of people being brought in to Dungeness, Kent, by an RNLI lifeboat.
One person was pictured being taken away from the shore on a stretcher.
A spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said it worked with the French Coastguard who were co-ordinating the response to an incident involving a small boat in the French search and rescue region, working with Border Force and other partners.
