A crew of fishermen hauled 31 people to safety after a migrant boat capsized in the Channel, claiming the lives of four people.

A huge search and rescue effort was launched after the dinghy sank between Kent and France in the early hours of this morning.

While four people have been confirmed dead, 43 others were rescued – the majority by a scallop fishing boat which was first on the scene.

Ben Squire, who owns Plymouth-based Oceanic Drifter Fishing, told ITV: "The skipper called me to tell me he was involved in a serious incident.

“They were fishing mid-Channel, halfway between England and France, and a rigid inflatable boat with people on board, migrants, was crossing and was sinking very, very near to where he was fishing."

He added: “It looks to be that the bottom of the rigid inflatable boat with the migrants on had fallen away - so you had all these people in the water, in cold conditions, they were still holding onto the boat, obviously cold in the water."

Footage filmed from the boat showed some dressed only in T-shirts and thin life-jackets screaming for help, with fishing crew members pulling people out of the water with ropes.

Mr Squire, who was not on the boat for the rescue, said the skipper Ray Strachan told him they saved 31 people.

He said the crew gave them hot showers, their own clothes and food to help them warm up.

Although he described the incident as "horrific", he said the crew did a "cracking job."

He told the BBC: "They did brilliantly getting that many people on board the boat".

International rescue efforts are still being carried out off the coast of Kent, involving 14 boats from both sides of the channel, four helicopters and a fixed wing plane.

Police and ambulance services were deployed this morning alongside the air ambulance to assist casualties when they were brought ashore.

In addition to the four lives known to be lost in the tragedy, a further two people were taken to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford for treatment.