Four migrants who tried to cross the Channel in an inflatable dinghy have been rescued by French coastguards.

A fifth person was found on a beach at Sangatte near Calais, suffering from hypothermia.

He told officials that the migrants on the dinghy were part of a group that had set off for the UK from Dunkirk.

The migrants were found about three miles from the French coast and rescued shortly after 6am.

They were wearing life vests and suffering from hypothermia, France Info radio reported.

The station said the fifth man had abandoned the boat and swum back to shore, reaching Sangatte.

It was only the second or third time in ten years that someone had tried to attempt such a crossing, said head of a local police union, Gilles Debove.