Home Secretary Suella Braverman said her “thoughts and prayers” are with those affected after a people-smuggling boat sank off the French coast on Saturday, killing six.
According to French authorities, 58 or 59 others have been rescued by French and British rescue teams, and there may still be one or two people missing.
It comes after 755 people successfully crossed the English Channel on Thursday, bringing the total number of small-boat illegal immigrants since 2018 to pass 100,000.
France’s Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea said a commercial vessel reported seeing a migrant boat “at a standstill off Sangatte” in the early hours of Saturday.
A search party was then sent out, and the boat was sinking when a French Navy patrol boat found it.
One person airlifted to Calais Hospital by helicopter was declared dead first. In an updated statement, the prefecture said five others who were found in critical condition also died.
So far, three French vessels have rescued 36 survivors, who were brought to Calais.
A Royal National Lifeboat Institution vessel, a private British vessel, and some other merchant ships have rescued 22 or 23 people. They were brought to Dover.
The prefecture said testimonies of the survivors suggested the boat had 65 or 66 migrants on it, meaning there could still be one or two people missing. Searches are still ongoing.
Natalie Elphicke, Conservative MP for Dover, told PA news agency that the incident underlines the importance of stopping the boats “to keep people safe and prevent loss of life in the Channel.”
“These overcrowded and unseaworthy deathtraps should obviously be stopped by the French authorities from leaving the French coast in the first place, she said.
Ms. Elphicke called for joint patrols on the French coast and a cross-Channel security zone.
Refugee charity Care4Calais called on the UK government to set up “a system of safe passage to the UK for refugees.”
Steve Smith, chief executive of the charity, said it would allow asylum seekers to apply in France and then “travel safely to the UK without risking their lives in small boats.”
According to provisional figures published by the Home Office, 343 people in six boats were detected crossing the English Channel on Friday, following this year’s daily record of 755 people set on Thursday.
It takes the provisional total for the year so far to 16,169. Since 2018, more than 100,000 have been smuggled into the UK on small boats from France.
The tragedy came as the Home Office was criticised for having to evacuate a barge four days after moving asylum seekers onboard because Legionella bacteria was discovered in the water supply.
In a bid to reduce the £6 million-a-day bill to house asylum seekers in hotels, the Home Office opened some former military bases and acquired the accommodation vessel Bibby Stockholm to house single male asylum seekers while they wait for decisions.
The controversial plan to put asylum seekers on a ship was delayed last week after The Times of London reported concerns about fire safety.
On Monday, the first group of 15 people was moved onto the barge, followed by 24 more later, but only to be evacuated on Friday after it emerged Legionella bacteria was discovered in the water supply.
