Six migrant deaths in the Channel an 'appalling and preventable tragedy'

The Refugee Council urged the Government to respond to the incident with “compassion” while Freedom from Torture accused ministers of “hostile” attitudes towards refugees.

Opposition MPs said the tragedy highlighted the need for action to prevent dangerous crossings being made.

The French coast guard said the vessel got into difficulty in the Channel near Calais in the early hours of Saturday.

Officials said 59 people, many of them Afghans, were rescued but six were pronounced dead.

Volunteer rescuers told the Reuters news agency that the vessel was “overloaded” as there were too many people on board and some of them were children from Afghanistan and Sudan.

When the French lifeboat arrived, they found people screaming for help in the water and some people on the sinking boat were using their shoes to bail water out.

Steve Smith, chief executive of refugee charity Care4Calais, said: it was “an appalling and preventable tragedy”.

“Those who died were not just statistics, but individual people: someone’s children, someone’s siblings, and possibly someone’s parents,” he said.

"We send our deepest sympathies to their friends and families.

“This terrible loss of life demonstrates yet again the need for a system of safe passage to the UK for refugees.

“This would enable them to apply for asylum while in France, and then to travel safely to the UK without risking their lives in small boats.

“It would put the people smugglers out of business overnight.”

Kolbassia Haoussou, from Freedom from Torture, said: “The UK Government has used the demonisation of refugees as a tactic to distract us from their failings, which have left us with a cost-of-living crisis, the NHS on its knees, and public sector strikes.

“If this Government fails to humanely address this issue, then innocent lives will continue to be lost.”

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said the incident “underscores the need for meaningful action” to reduce dangerous crossings, and urged the Government to focus on creating an “orderly and humane asylum system”.

He accused the Government of “focusing on passing expensive and unworkable legislation and shutting down existing safe ways to get to the UK”.

“There are constructive alternatives we have set out that would create an orderly and humane asylum system,” he added.

Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said it is “desperately” necessary to stop dangerous crossings and “the terrible criminal smuggling gangs who profit while lives are lost.”

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: “My thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the tragic loss of life in the Channel.

“I have spoken with our Border Force teams this morning who have been supporting the French authorities in response to this incident.”

A UK Government spokesman said: “HM Coastguard are working on a co-ordinated response and further information will be provided in due course.”