PARIS — Two women, both Somalis, died yesterday while trying to cross the Channel to Britain, French authorities said, adding that the body of another migrant had been found in a canal.

Some 60 other migrants were rescued in the incident in which the two women died, when around 100 people got on to a makeshift boat south of the beaches of Neufchatel-Hardelot at around 3:15 am (0115 GMT) in a bid to get to the UK.

Their overloaded boat returned to shore an hour  later, after its motor failed to start, the local prefecture said in a statement.

Civil protection workers took in 60 people for care, while others who had been on the boat ran away when rescuers turned up, said Isabelle Fradin-Thirode, an official in nearby Montreuil-sur-Mer.

A couple and their child suffering from moderate hypothermia were rushed to a hospital in Boulogne, she said.

The body—that of a man in his late 20s or early 30s—was recovered from a canal in the town of Gravelines, next to Dunkirk, said the prefecture and AFP journalists at the scene.

These latest incidents bring the number of Channel crossing deaths to at least 26 this year, according to an AFP tally based on official data.