Four people have died after a migrant boat capsized in the English Channel.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed his “sorrow” at the “capsizing of a small boat” in the Channel, telling MPs there had been a “tragic loss of human life”.

A spokesman for a French charity said it was sent a voice message in the early hours of the morning from migrants in a waterlogged boat begging for help, and that babies could be heard screaming in the background.

The Royal Navy, French navy, Coastguard and RNLI lifeboats were all involved in a major rescue operation off the Kent coast on Wednesday morning.

RNLI lifeboats were launched from Dover at 3.07am, followed by more from Ramsgate and Hastings.

A Government spokesman said: “At 0305 today, authorities were alerted to an incident in the Channel concerning a migrant small boat in distress.

“After a co-ordinated search and rescue operation led by HM Coastguard, it is with regret that there have been four confirmed deaths as a result of this incident. Investigations are ongoing and we will provide further information in due course.

“This is a truly tragic incident. Our thoughts are with the friends and families of all those who have lost their lives today.”

Government sources initially told the PA news agency 43 people were rescued, but the figure has since been revised to 39 after updated information from authorities involved. More than 30 were pulled from the water.

Nikolai Posner, communications officer for Utopia 56 which helps migrants in Calais, said a 22-second WhatsApp voice note was left at around 2am UK time.

In the message, a man can be heard saying there was water inside the boat with “families and kids” on board, Mr Posner told PA.

He said: “It was clearly an emergency, he was calling for help … In the background of the message we can hear babies screaming.”

Mr Posner said the charity tried to respond to the message but the reply was not received, then they contacted both the French and UK coastguards. It is unclear why a rescue boat was only launched an hour after the charity informed authorities of the distress message, Mr Posner said, adding: “We don’t know what really happened during that time.”

In audio of the voice note, obtained by Channel 4 News, a man can be heard saying: “We’re in a boat and we have a problem. Please help. We have children and families in a boat. Water is coming in. We don’t have anything for this, for feeling safety. Please help me bro. Please, please. We are in the water. We have a family.”

Meanwhile, a fisherman told Sky News that migrants surrounded his boat in the early hours of the morning “screaming for help”.

The skipper, named only as Raymond, said his crew saved 31 people stranded in the Channel, adding: “It was like something out of a Second World War movie – there were people in the water everywhere, screaming.”

Footage broadcast by Sky News showed a group of people, squashed inside a sinking dinghy which was filling with water, being hauled up over the side of a boat with rope.

SEA Rescue
(PA Graphics)

In the Commons, Mr Sunak said: “I’m sure the whole House will share my sorrow at the capsizing of a small boat in the Channel in the early hours of this morning, and the tragic loss of human life.

“Our hearts go out to all those affected and our tributes to those involved in the extensive rescue operation.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “Our prayers go out to those who capsized in the freezing waters of the Channel last night. It’s a reminder that the criminal gangs running those routes put the lives of the desperate at risk and profit from their misery. They must be broken up and brought to justice.”

Migrant Channel crossing incidents
Forensic tents erected at the RNLI station at the Port of Dover after a large search and rescue operation in the Channel off the Kent coast (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Dover and Deal MP Natalie Elphicke urged Mr Sunak to “meet urgently” with French President Emmanuel Macron to set up joint patrols in the Channel and on the beaches to prevent boats entering the water and to save lives.

“Urgent action is needed now,” the Tory said.

In Dover, a black body bag was brought ashore on a stretcher from the Dover RNLI lifeboat at around 11.15am and taken to forensics tents outside the RNLI headquarters.

There are likely to have been freezing temperatures in the Channel overnight amid a cold snap sweeping across the UK.

The tragedy came a day after Mr Sunak unveiled a raft of new measures in a bid to curb Channel crossings as he told MPs: “We have to stop the boats.”

More than 44,000 people have made the dangerous crossing this year, Government figures show.

Police forensic officers head to forensic tents erected at the RNLI station at the Port of Dover following the search and rescue operation
Police forensic officers head to the tents erected at the RNLI station at the Port of Dover (Gareth Fuller/PA)

At least 27 migrants died when a dinghy sank while heading to the UK from France in November last year.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman expressed her “profound sadness” at the news and said: “These are the days that we dread. Crossing the Channel in unseaworthy vessels is a lethally dangerous endeavour.

“It is for this reason, above all, that we are working so hard to destroy the business model of the people smugglers – evil, organised criminals who treat human beings as cargo.

“This morning’s tragedy, like the loss of 27 people on one November day last year, is the most sobering reminder possible of why we have to end these crossings.”

In a joint statement with French interior minister Gerald Darmanin, Ms Braverman noted the UK-French efforts to tackle illegal migration and resolve “with our European neighbours, to intensify our police, border and judicial cooperation”.

Campaigners sought to blame the Government’s “hostile” asylum policies for the deaths which they said were “predictable and avoidable”, while Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said the incident showed “debates about asylum seekers are not about statistics, but precious human lives”.