Dutch sea rescue services say they have saved a migrant trying to cross the English Channel on a makeshift raft.

The Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Institution, or KNRM, tweeted that the man was picked up Sunday morning near Ijmuiden, west of Amsterdam.

Dutch media reported that the man appeared to be a 26-year-old refugee from Eritrea who wanted to reach England.

The raft he'd built had no engine and only a sail made from a piece of plastic.

It was discovered on a busy shipping route used by freighters.