A man has died after attempting to swim the English Channel.

Nick Thomas, an experienced endurance athlete, set off from Dover on Saturday morning.

However after 16 hours he encountered difficulties and was pulled unconscious from the water.

He was taken to hospital in Calais where he was pronounced dead.

Thomas swum the channel in 2014 and his Twitter profile describes himself as "endurance athlete, iron & ultraman triathlon for many years".

Enduroman Events, who were tweeting updates his challenge, said he died "doing what he loved".