LOON-PLAGE, (France): Four migrants, two children among them, died Tuesday after the boat in which they had set out from France to try and reach Britain capsized in the English Channel, French officials said.

One man drowned when the boat sank, while a woman and two children aged five and eight died after they were pulled from the water alive with 14 other people, according to the local authority of the Nord department.

Some of those rescued, including the two children, had gone into cardiac arrest after being plucked from the water, while others, including more children, suffered hypothermia. The group's small fishing boat capsized in the Channel at about 9:30 am, official Herve Tourmente told journalists earlier in Loon-Plage, near Dunkirk.

"It seems that one person, who might be an infant, is still missing," Tourmente said, noting that stormy conditions had made the attempted crossing especially perilous. A passing English vessel reported that the migrant boat was in trouble, triggering a large search and rescue operation involving six boats with aerial support.