Three people are missing after attempting to cross the Channel in a kayak.

The French coastguard said a search for the trio was launched yesterday but suspended overnight.

It is expected to resume this morning.

The news comes after it was revealed nearly 700 asylum seekers were intercepted or rescued by UK authorities in a single day on Wednesday.

And around 1,000 people reached the UK yesterday (Thursday), a new record.

A young girl wrapped in a red jacket was seen being carried ashore in Dover on Thursday, one of hundreds of people brought into the Kent port after being picked up at sea.

Lifeboat crews and Border Force boats were busy well into the evening after spending hours intercepting boats in the Dover Strait throughout the day.

Yesterday's total will surpass the previous single-day record for the current crisis of 853 set earlier this month when figures are finalised.

It comes despite a series of recent deaths in the last few weeks in instances of asylum seekers trying to cross the Channel.

Border officials were busy well into yesterday evening in Dover as they worked to process the many arrivals.

Children wrapped in jackets and blankets against the autumn chill, some carried in the arms of adults, were among being helped onto the quayside throughout the day.

In 2019, Home Secretary Priti Patel promised to make crossings an “infrequent phenomenon” by spring 2020 and then pledged in August last year to “make this route unviable.”

"Despite some hysterical reporting, the number arriving are not out of the ordinary."

During this time, the Government has agreed to pay France millions of pounds to increase security on its northern coast.

Dan O’Mahoney, British Clandestine Channel Threat Commander, said: “Migrants making these dangerous crossings are putting their lives at risk and it is vital we do everything we can to prevent them and break the business model of the criminal gangs exploiting people.

“As part of our response it is important we have a maritime deterrent in the channel and Border Force officers are authorised to use safe and legal options for stopping small boats.”

Bridget Chapman from the Kent Refugee Action Network: "The best way to stop people risking their lives in the Channel is by giving them better options than crossing in a small boat.

"One way of doing that would be to issue humanitarian visas in France so that people can make this crossing safely and in a regularised fashion. Despite some hysterical reporting of this issue, the number arriving are not out of the ordinary, it's just that the method of travel has changed."

Despite the increasing numbers of small boats arrivals, the UK continues to see far fewer boat arrivals and asylum claims than many of its European counterparts.

At least 100,907 people have arrived in Europe via the Mediterranean by land and sea so far this year, according to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

At least 1,313 people are estimated to be dead or missing, according to the same data.

Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrant rights director, said: “The people making these perilous sea crossings are doing so out of desperation, largely because there are no safe and legal routes open to them, and many have family and other connections here.

“Instead of seizing on these highly visible crossings to manufacture a supposed ‘national emergency’ in their attempts to justify draconian new asylum policies, ministers ought to be working constructively with the French authorities to provide safe access to asylum procedures on both sides of the Channel.

“The total number of asylum claims being made in the UK over the last few years has remained relatively low and stable, but Channel crossings have become part of the Government’s cynical politicisation of asylum.

“With its current approach, the Government is wilfully endangering people it should be helping. These are cruel tactics and they should end."

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