Officials are investigating if the body found on Sunday was “linked to a disaster” involving migrants attempting to cross the Channel to Britain.

At least 70 people have died trying to make the crossing since the start of the year, said authorities in France’s northern Pas-de-Calais region, making 2024 the deadliest year since migrant crossings began in earnest in 2018.

The body found on a beach near the coastal town of Marck was “very degraded”, and no immediate identification was possible, said the public prosecutor’s office.

Three migrants died in an Oct 23 disaster, with at least ten other individuals unaccounted for after the incident, according to migrant aid associations.

Another body was found yesterday on a beach in the neighbouring Somme region.