A heroic fishing crew that helped pull migrants onto their boat from the freezing water in the English Channel described the scene "like something out of a Second World War movie".
Four migrants sadly died in the early hours of the morning when the small dinghy collapsed on itself in sub-zero temperatures just five miles off the coast of Dungeness in Kent.
Up to 43 people including children were rescued today, and 31 of those were rescued by the fishermen over the course of two hours - but at least one could not be saved.
Video from the harrowing mission shows multiple people gripping a lifeboat as their small dingy starts to fold in on itself.
Raymond, the captain, said he was woken up by a crew member who said "there are migrants alongside the boat".
He told Sky News : "It was like something out of a Second World War movie, there were people in the water everywhere, screaming.
"The dinghy started to drift away, so I steamed towards the dinghy and we secured it with a rope to the side of the boat.
"We were trying to pull them off the dinghy."
He said they managed to drag 31 onto the boat and said they had come from Afghanistan, Iraq, Senegal and India.
Raymond also said they had reportedly paid £5,000 to a smuggler in France for passage into the UK.
They counted 45 people trying to cling to the side of the vessel.
He also said one who tragically died had been on the side of the boat.
Raymond added: "We had been concentrating on the port side and this one person had swum to the starboard side, tied a rope onto my fishing gear and tied it around his wrist to keep himself alongside the boat.
"When I put my boat into gear his body floated up."
Raymond added that everyone that was pulled from the water was given a "lukewarm shower" and new clothes.
The boat, which was carrying up to 50 people, got into difficulty in icy waters during sub-zero temperatures in the early hours of this morning - with the coastguard and navy ships racing to the scene.
Temperatures last night were said to be -4C as rescue boats and ambulances were called at about 3am before launching crews off the coast.
Images from Dover today showed those who had been rescued, including small children.
A Government spokesperson said: “At 0305 today, authorities were alerted to an incident in the Channel concerning a migrant small boat in distress.
"After a coordinated search and rescue operation led by HM Coastguard, it is with regret that there have been four confirmed deaths as a result of this incident, investigations are ongoing and we will provide further information in due course.
“This is a truly tragic incident. Our thoughts are with the friends and families of all those who have lost their lives today.”
Another Dover-based fisherman said that the temperature of the sea mid-Channel was just 9C.
The trawlerman who asked not to be named said: "If you went into the sea mid-channel without a dry suit or protective clothing in those temperatures you would have about five minutes before you began to struggle.
"You would start to get cramps in your limbs which would make things really difficult to try and stay afloat."
The unfolding emergency comes a day after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a five-point plan to stop perilous crossings of the world's busiest shipping lane.
The proposals were branded "appalling and grotesque" by charities with the fact no safe routes to claim asylum were cited as the main reason for the continued crossings.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman claimed the four deaths justified her draconian crackdown on migrants.
She told MPs: “It is not cruel or unkind to want to break the stranglehold of the criminal gangs who trade in misery and exploit our system and our laws.”
Blaming the “evil organised criminals who treat human beings as cargo”, she said the deaths were the “most sobering reminder possible of why we have to end these crossings.”
Ms Braverman - who just weeks ago branded Channel migrants an “invasion” - told MPs: “These are the days that we dread. Crossing the channel in unseaworthy vessels is a lethally dangerous endeavour”.
