A second boat of migrants was found on the Channel this morning, French authorities have revealed.

A fishing boat with nine people was spotted by the Dover-registered DFDS ferry Delft Seaways nearly five miles west of Dunkirk at about 4am GMT.

This is according to France's maritime operations centre at Cherbourg (Centre des Opérations Maritimes).

The nine were rescued and eventually handed to police in the Pas-de-Calais district.

Just an hour before this discovery nine other migrants were intercepted in the English Channel just before 3am.

They had been in a small boat off Dover and an 18-month-old child had was thought to be among the group.

There have now been 119 migrants, mostly on dinghies, found in 14 incidents since November 8 in the areas of Dover, Folkestone and the French coast.