This is the moment migrants, some wearing lifejackets, were seen on Thursday morning packing onto a beach at Graveslines in Normandy, France, as they sought to sail to the UK.
Four migrants have drowned overnight attempting to cross the Channel - sparking calls from Nigel Farage for Britain's new government to 'start moving fast' to tackle the crisis as he warned 'many more will die'.
Reacting to Friday's disaster, Reform Party leader Nigel Farage - who was sworn in as MP for Clacton yesterday, wrote: '4 deaths in the Channel this morning, the new Government had better start moving fast.' Pictured is a map showing where the migrant boat got into difficulty in the Channel having set off from northern France overnight on Thursday
It comes after Prime Minister Keir Starmer was forced to concede this week that it could take years to solve the crisis. 'The sailors saw four inanimate people and 56 other migrants, including three women in great difficulty near the wreckage.' Read More Sir Keir Starmer warns migrant crisis is likely to get worse before it gets better Tory shadow home secretary James Cleverly said on X: 'Reports of more deaths in the channel are a tragedy.
Three of those who died were found in the water, while the fourth was in the remains of the boat, he added. People smugglers were suspected of charging each up to £1,000-a-head to board the inflatable dinghy packed with 112 people, instead of an advised 20. The latest disaster came as French police were seen standing by and watching as dozens of migrants packed into an overloaded dingy and set off across the Channel on Thursday.About a dozen officers, some armed with riot shields and batons, were pictured at the water's edge in Gravelines, Normandy - about 40 miles from Boulogne sur Mer on the north coast of France.
A witness who saw the drama claimed French officers had initially tried to stop migrants as they dashed out from the encampments close to the beach. 'While my colleagues were arresting some of the 'ferrymen' in town, then slashing their boats, scores more migrants were hiding in the dunes waiting for dinghies to arrive from the sea to pick them up.'
Some 484 migrants have arrived in the UK since Sir Keir became PM in the wake of Labour's election victory last week.
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