A major search and rescue operation, which reportedly involved the UK coastguard, the French navy, an air ambulance and a nearby fishing boat, was launched in the early hours of Wednesday morning (December 14) in British waters off the English coast of Kent. A boat carrying migrants was understood to have begun sinking at about 3 am off the coast of Dungeness, reported the BBC.

At least four people have been reported dead so far and 43 rescued, 30 of them from the water, confirmed the BBC and the Daily Mail, which also warned that the death toll "could rise further." Reported estimates suggest there were between 40 and 50 people on the boat. Coast guard helicopters from nearby stations in Lydd and Lee on Solent, further along the south coast, were also scrambled for the rescue attempts.

According to the Daily Mail, the boat "is believed to have capsized some five miles off Dungeness." Survival times in the sea at this time of year are thought to be extremely short. Ashford hospital in Kent had been told to clear its Accident and Emergency department ahead of "multiple casualties," the Mail reported.

"I am aware of a distressing incident in the Channel this morning and I am being kept constantly updated while agencies respond and urgently establish the full facts," commented the UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman to the BBC.

In November 2021, 27 migrants died in an incident closer to the French side of the Channel.

Weather: freezing and stormy

On Wednesday morning, BBC Correspondent Simon Jones who regularly covers the Channel crossings and was at the scene, said that search and rescue operations are expected to continue throughout the day.

Weather in the Channel today has been described as "freezing." Lowest temperatures published by the UK’s Met [Meteorolgical] Office were indeed at 0 degrees on shore, climbing to 1 degree between 3 am and 5 am before sinking again to zero.

By 6 am the temperature was recorded as being -1 degrees celsius and the wind northerly and a force 9 [a heavy wind, on the Beaufort scale it is described as stormy]. The county of Kent issued a yellow weather warning for ice.

Also read: Channel crossings: 'We expect to see boats with hundreds of migrants in distress'

This kind of tragedy 'predictable and inevitable'

Since the start of the year, more than 45,000 people have crossed the English Channel from France. UK government sources state that French authorities also stopped some 31,000 migrants from making the crossing, although many of them try several times until they make it.

Over the last weekend, despite the cold weather, around 460 people reportedly crossed the Channel in small boats and arrived in Kent. Simon Jones tweeted on December 12 that at least "240 migrants arrived in five boats" on Sunday, December 11.

The charity Refugee Action said that this kind of tragedy was "predictable and inevitable." Tim Naor Hilton from Refugee Action reportedly told the BBC that "more people would die trying to reach safety if the government did not create more routes for people to claim asylum."

Government announces new plans to tackle Channel migration

On Tuesday, Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced in the House of Commons his latest plan for tackling migration across the Channel. The plan included strengthening returns agreements with migrants arriving from Albania, which many countries in Europe designate a "safe" country.

The government has also promised that it will put more resources into clearing the huge backlog in processing asylum claims which has built up over the years.

On Wednesday, Sunak opened the regular Wednesday Prime Minister’s Questions session by expressing his own “sorrow” at the "tragic loss of human life," reported the Daily Mail. Labour Party opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer added that this kind of incident was a "reminder that the criminal gangs running those routes put the lives of the desperate at risk and profit from their misery."

A video and photos posted on the Daily Mail pages and copyrighted to Sky News show a black inflatable dinghy half collapsed. Some people sit crushed in the bottom, including what looks like women and children, although the images are blurred. At least one man is in the water in the images and several people sit on the side of the half deflated boat. Most of the migrants look inadequately dressed for the cold weather with thin tracksuits and hooded jumpers their only protection against the chill.

'Dangerous' and 'difficult'

The former director general of the UK’s Border Force, Tony Smith, told the Mail that he can imagine the people on the boat "will have been frightened but they would have been assured by the pilot or by somebody behind this." With smugglers telling the migrants things like "this is easy. Don’t worry about this. It’s not very far. Just get in here, and everything’s going to be OK."

Like many others, he called again for the boats to be stopped because it is "highly highly dangerous." Adding, "when a vessel runs into trouble on the English Channel, we cannot guarantee your safety – we can only do everything in our power to try and save lives." Smith underlined that these are dangerous waters and that really difficult conditions can occur, even when near land the seas may appear calm and the distance not so far.

Britain’s Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby said, "I’m praying for the victims of today’s terrible events in the Channel. It’s another reminder that debates about asylum seekers are not about statistics, but precious human lives. May God comfort those who mourn, those who survived and all those who work to save lives at sea."

Also read: UK and France sign €72 million deal over Channel migrants