Boat Capsized Near Calais Twenty-Nine Migrants Drowned

Five people remain missing, said French maritime minister Annick Girardin, One UK patrol boat, one French lifeboat, and three helicopters are involved in rescue efforts.

According to report, twenty-nine migrants have drowned trying to cross the Channel in an inflatable dinghy, the MP for Calais has told Sky News.

Pierre Henri Dumont said the figure was the most up to date he had - earlier the town's mayor had put it at 27.

Several others are thought to be injured after their boat capsized near Calais this afternoon.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is holding a meeting of the UK's emergency COBRA committee in response.

It is the worst-ever incident involving migrants trying to cross to the UK by sea, said French maritime authorities.

Franck Dhersin, deputy head of regional transport, said many corpses are probably still at sea and the death toll is likely to rise.

La Voix Du Nord newspaper, citing a police source, said as many as 50 migrants had been onboard.

France's interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, is heading to the area and prime minister Jean Castex called it a "tragedy".

He tweeted: "My thoughts are with the many missing and injured, victims of criminal smugglers who exploit their distress and injury."

Fisherman Nicolas Margolle said he had seen two small dinghies, one with people onboard and another empty.

He said another fisherman had called rescuers after seeing the empty dinghy and 15 people motionless in the water.

A French naval boat retrieved an unidentified number of dead and injured, including some who were unconscious, a maritime authority spokesperson said.

Conditions on the Channel were described as cool but calm, which may explain why there were a number of crossings on Wednesday - other migrants were brought ashore at Dover and Dungeness.

The Dover Strait is the world's busiest shipping lane and more than 25,700 people have made the dangerous journey to the UK this year.

That figure is three times the total for 2020, according to data compiled by the PA news agency.

Dover MP Natalie Elphicke said: "This is an absolute tragedy. It underlines why saving lives at sea starts by stopping the boats entering the water in the first place.

"As winter is approaching the seas will get rougher, the water colder, the risk of even more lives tragically being lost greater.

"That's why stopping these dangerous crossings is the humanitarian and right thing to do."