Four people have diedafter a migrant boat gotintodifficultiescrossing the English Channel on a freezing night.A fishingcrewspotted the dinghy sinking in ice-cold waters between Kent and France justafter03:00 GMT.
The skipper pulledhis boat alongside and hiscrewhauled 31 people to safety in a dramaticrescueoperation, the BBC has been told.
Footagefilmedfrom the boat showedsomedressedonly in T-shirts and thinlifejacketsscreaming for help.
The video – shared by the owner of the fishingtrawler, Ben Squire – showedcrewmemberspulling people up out of the water and the boat withropes.
People can beheardpanicking and shouting as water appears to fill the inflatable boat.
In the night sky, helicopter lights shine down and airlift people away, as lifeboats arrive at the scene to continue rescuing people.
A governmentspokesmansaidauthoritieswerealerted at 03:05 GMT to a small boat in difficulty off the coast of Dungeness, 30 miles west of Dover.
Mr Squire, whowas not on the boat for the rescue, said the skipper Ray Strachan toldhimtheysaved 31 people.
Afterhaulingthem to safety, the crew gave them hot showers, theirownclothes and fedthem to help warm them up.
Mr Squire said the seawasquite cold and the conditions were « a little bit rough ».
Overnight on Tuesday, temperaturesdropped to 1C, withitlikely to have been colder out at sea. A yellowweather warning for icewas in place across Kent at the time.
It was a horrific incident, hesaid, but the crewdid a « cracking job ».
« Theydidbrilliantlygettingthatmany people on board the boat », Mr Squire told the BBC.
« These are the daysthatwedread, » Home SecretarySuella Braverman said.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunakearlierexpressedhissorrow at the « tragicloss of human life ».
The boat islikely to have been carrying migrants risking the crossingfrom France, a dayafter Mr Sunakannounced new measures to « stop the boats ».
In those plans, the PM promised more staff to help clearsome of the UK’sbacklog of asylum cases by the end of nextyear.In a statement to the House of Commons on Wednesday, Ms Braverman said the search and rescueoperationwasongoing, and she has spoken to Border Force officials about the tragedy.
The UK coastguard, the French Navy, the RNLI and an air ambulance were all sent to help with the rescueoperation.CoastguardhelicoptersfromLydd and Lee on Solent werealsoinvolved.
South East Coast Ambulance Service saiditwascalledfollowing reports of the incident, and sent crews to Dover, in Kent, to help with the follow-up operation.
A number of politicians have expressedtheircondolences, including Home SecretarySuella Braverman, whosaidthather « heartfeltthoughts » werewiththoseinvolved.
Labour leader Sir KeirStarmersaiditwas « heartbreaking » thatthere have been more deaths in the Channel, and Dover MP Natalie Elphickesaidshewas « verysaddened » to hear of the tragedy.
The operationfollowsa fatal incident in November 2021, when at least 27 migrants diedafter a dinghy sankwhileheading to the UK from France.Nearly 45,000 people have made the journeythisyearso far.
The Archbishop of Canterbury saidhewas « praying for the victims of today’s terrible events », tweetingthatdebates about asylumseekers « are not about statistics, but precioushumanlives ».
Tim Naor Hilton, from the charityRefugee Action, said the tragedywaspredictable and inevitable, and more people would die trying to reachsafetyif the governmentdid not create more routes for people to claim asylum.
