A 72 year old man has been pronounced dead following early morning rescue efforts.
Guernsey Coastguard say they received a broken mayday call from a sailing vessel, which was relayed by another boat in the channel, at 03.35, about 15 miles Northwest of Guernsey.
The call stated the casualty had fallen overboard from a Sailing boat and was no longer visible.
The St Peter Port Lifeboat, Channel Islands Air Search, and a French Rescue helicopter were all dispatched to the scene.
Air Search located a man overboard marker from the casualty vessel, and the Lifeboat commenced a search from that position.
The casualty was successfully located and recovered from the water by the Lifeboat at 5:45am, around one hour and ten minutes after the initial call.
He was then transferred to the French Rescue helicopter and taken to Cherbourg Hospital, but the man was later pronounced deceased.
Acting Harbour Master James Way thanked search and rescue crews, and offered his condolences to the family and friends of the deceased: “I would like to praise the efforts of the search and rescue crews during this incident and our thoughts are with the family and friends of the deceased at this difficult time.”