t least six individuals have died and greater than 50 rescued after a ship carrying migrants sank within the Channel, French authorities have stated.

Two British ships and several other French vessels have been concerned in a search and rescue operation, France’s Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea stated.

Information was obtained from a patrol boat early on Saturday {that a} migrant boat was sinking off the coast of Sangatte, in keeping with a press release.

Six individuals had been recovered in a severe situation, one among whom was then taken by helicopter to Calais hospital and declared useless, the prefecture stated.

An up to date assertion stated the opposite 5, who had been taken in by boat, had additionally died.

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HM Coastguard are engaged on a co-ordinated response and additional info shall be offered sooner or later

A dozen individuals had been rescued by British means, together with by a Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) crew, which was launched shortly earlier than 4am.

Those on board had been transferred to Dover with survivors from one other RNLI operation additionally on the boat, the assertion stated.

According to the French authorities, at the least 37 individuals had been additionally collected by French boats and three by a British chartered ship.

The 5 deceased persons are being taken to the port in Calais.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman stated she had chaired a gathering with Border Force officers afterward Saturday morning.

A UK Government spokesperson stated: “We are aware of an incident in the Channel. HM Coastguard are working on a co-ordinated response and further information will be provided in due course.”

Rescue groups from Folkestone and Langdon Bay together with paramedics from South East Coast Ambulance have additionally been despatched to reply, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) stated.

A French Navy maritime surveillance plane has now been mobilised, together with a helicopter and plenty of vessels because the rescue operation continues.

An investigation has additionally been opened by the Boulogne prosecutor’s workplace.

The Home Office has been requested for extra particulars in regards to the incident, described by Ms Braverman on Twitter as a “tragic loss of life”.

It comes after 755 individuals crossed the English Channel in small boats on Thursday, the best each day quantity to this point this 12 months, confirming the whole since 2018 has handed 100,000.

Some 343 individuals in six boats had been detected crossing the Channel on Friday, in keeping with Home Office figures.

It means greater than 1,000 made the journey over two days and takes the provisional whole for the 12 months to this point to greater than 16,000.

Thursday’s figures had been recorded as one other main search and rescue operation was launched after 17 migrants went overboard and had been pulled from the water.

The Home Office stated they had been all taken ashore for medical checks.

Shadow dwelling secretary Yvette Cooper stated it's “desperately” essential to cease harmful crossings and “the terrible criminal smuggling gangs who profit while lives are lost.”

Shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock stated the most recent incident was an “appalling, deeply shocking tragedy”.

Enver Solomon, chief government of the Refugee Council, stated the incident “underscores the need for meaningful action” to scale back harmful crossings, and urged the Government to deal with 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 stated.

He accused the Government of “focusing on passing expensive and unworkable legislation and shutting down existing safe ways to get to the UK”, including: “There are constructive alternatives we have set out that would create an orderly and humane asylum system.”

Natalie Elphicke, Conservative MP for Dover, stated the deadly incident bolstered the necessity for joint patrols within the Channel.

She informed the PA news company: “Today’s tragedy underlines why we must stop the small boats to keep people safe and prevent loss of life in the Channel.

“These overcrowded and unseaworthy deathtraps should obviously be stopped by the French authorities from leaving the French coast in the first place.

“The time has come for joint patrols on the French coast and a cross-Channel security zone before any more lives are lost.”