At least six people have died with others still missing after a migrant boat capsized in the English Channel.
Dozens of people were rescued in an operation involving French and British authorities after a boat struggled in the water on Saturday morning.
French authorities said around 50 people were rescued, with several brought off lifeboats on stretchers. Six people were recovered in a serious condition but were later pronounced dead.
The search is still underway, with up to 10 migrants still believed to be missing.
One volunteer told how migrants were using shoes to bale water out of the sinking boat. She told Reuters “there were too many on the boat”.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman chaired a meeting with Border Force officials this morning and said her “thoughts and prayers” were with those affected by the deaths in the Channel.
In a statement, she said: “My thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the tragic loss of life in the Channel today.
“I have spoken with our Border Force teams this morning who have been supporting the French authorities in response to this incident.”
Shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock said the latest incident was an “appalling, deeply shocking tragedy”.
“We must stop these crossings and defeat the criminal people smugglers.
“There can be no more headline-chasing gimmicks or madcap schemes that just make everything worse,” he wrote on Twitter.
The rescue operation involved two British ships and several French vessels, according to a statement from France’s Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea.
It began after information was received from a patrol boat that a migrant boat was sinking off Sangatte, which is around five miles from the French coast, the statement said.
The 37 people rescued by French resources are currently being cared for in Calais, authorities said.
A dozen people were rescued by British means, including by a Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) crew, which was launched shortly before 4am.
Suella Braverman (Jordan Pettitt/PA)
Those on board were transferred to Dover with survivors from another RNLI operation also on the boat, the statement said.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said the incident “underscores the need for meaningful action” to reduce dangerous crossings, and urged the Government to focus on creating an “orderly and humane asylum system”.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life in today’s sinking of a boat in the English Channel. Our hearts go out to the victims, survivors, and their loved ones. We also thank the rescuers who helped save many lives under harrowing circumstances,” he said.
He accused the government of “focusing on passing expensive and unworkable legislation and shutting down existing safe ways to get to the UK”, adding: “There are constructive alternatives we have set out that would create an orderly and humane asylum system.”
Rescued migrants sit on a French rescue ship after a migrant boat trying to cross the Channel from France capsized.
All 39 people moved on to the Bibby Stockholm have now been evacuated.
