A Belgian helicopter and French fishing boats have rescued illegal immigrants attempting to cross the English Channel after their boat began to sink about 15 miles off the coast. One survivor was airlifted, unconscious, to hospital. A rescue operation was launched by French authorities on the morning of Aug. 12, after passing vessels reported that a boat with around 40 passengers was in difficulty off the coast of Dunkirk, with some overboard. The local coastguard reported that a rescue helicopter arrived to find the boat starting to sink. Several people were rescued from the water by helicopter, others by fishing boats. A lifeboat dispatched from the passing cargo ship which had raised the alarm picked up one unconscious survivor, who was then airlifted to hospital in Calais. He is believed to have suffered cardio-respiratory arrest and was evacuated aboard a Belgian Air Force helicopter, French authorities said. According to the …