A major search and rescue operation is continuing in the dark and cold waters of the English Channel, after at least four people died and 39 others were rescued when their small migrant boat capsized.

The operation involving helicopters and lifeboats was launched at around 3am on Wednesday, with some survivors now “fighting for their lives” in hospital.

The boat was carrying up to 50 people – including, it is believed, women and children – when it ran into difficulties.

WARNING: This story contains an image of dead person in the water

Accounts of how the tragedy unfolded have been emerging, as a British fisherman whose crew saved 31 people told Sky News he was woken in the early hours of the morning when migrants surrounded his boat “screaming for help” – and a French charity say they received a mayday call.

‘Help us, help us’, man says in voice note

Skipper Raymond said he then counted 45 people holding onto the collapsed dinghy and surrounding his fishing boat.

Exclusive footage obtained by Sky News shows the moment of the rescue – with scores of people crammed into the small rubber boat shouting for help, as they are pulled to safety by a crew on board a nearby fishing vessel.

He said those he rescued came from Afghanistan, Iraq, Senegal and India, and told him they had each paid £5,000 to a smuggler in France for passage into the UK.

And a French charity which helps migrants in Calais said it received a 22-second WhatsApp voice note at 2.53am from a man on a sinking migrant boat begging for help as babies screamed in the background.

The man said people were in the seawater which had entered the vessel and begged the charity to “help us, help us”, according to Nikolai Posner, a spokesman for the Utopia 56 charity.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player


1:18

A timeline of the latest Channel tragedy

Some survivors still ‘fighting for their lives’

The charity said the man had also sent the location of the boat. Utopia 56 tried to respond and did not receive an answer and called the French coastguard at 2.57am French time and then emailed the French and British coastguard at 3.13am.

Mr Posner said it first informed the French coastguard because “the first location that we had was in French waters.”

The Royal Navy, French navy, Coastguard and RNLI lifeboats were all involved in a major rescue operation off the Kent coast on Wednesday morning.

RNLI lifeboats were launched from Dover at 3.07am, followed by more from Ramsgate and Hastings.

A Kent MP, Sir Roger Gale told the Commons that some of those rescued were still “fighting for their lives”.

Temperature overnight between zero 0C and 1C

Searches will continue, but at this stage more are feared dead given the freezing conditions of the water, a source told Sky News.

The temperature recorded at Dungeness overnight was between 0C and 1C, according to the Met Office.

British Red Cross director of refugee support Alex Fraser said anyone making the journey under these circumstances “shows just how desperate people are”.

Sunak expresses ‘sorrow’ at incident

“Nobody puts their life at risk like this unless they feel they have no other option, and until we have more accessible safe routes for people to claim asylum, there is a danger we may see more such incidents,” he said.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has expressed his ‘sorrow’ at the incident, telling MPs there had been a “tragic loss of human life”.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said HM Coastguard is working with the RNLI, Royal Navy, Border Force, French navy and Kent Police to look for the boat.

Coastguard rescue teams from Deal, Dungeness and Folkestone have been involved in the operation, along with helicopters from Lydd and Lee on Solent, and another from the French navy also taking part.

Two French vessels – as well as the fishing boat in the area – were also involved.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who updated MPs on the situation, said she was aware of the “distressing incident” and is “being kept constantly updated” while agencies respond and “urgently establish the full facts”.

“These are the days that we dread. Crossing the Channel in unseaworthy vessels is a lethally dangerous endeavour,” she told the Commons.

In a joint statement Home Secretary Suella Braverman and the French Home and Overseas Minister Gerald Darmanin described the events as “tragic”.

They added: “Unfortunately, several deaths have been confirmed… A coordinated response to this terrible tragedy has been put in place, with French and British actors working together. We salute the commitment of all those who contributed to it.”

The incident comes just hours after Mr Sunak promised to bring in new laws to tackle illegal immigration.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was “heartbreaking” there had been more deaths in the Channel, while Dover MP Natalie Elphicke urged Mr Sunak to “meet urgently” with French President Emmanuel Macron to set up joint patrols in the Channel and on the beaches to prevent boats entering the water and to save lives.

People now attempt the journeys all year round in overcrowded vessels, in perilous conditions, unsuitably dressed and often without life jackets – having paid smugglers up to £6,000 each to help them make the crossing.

As of midnight last night, 44,711 people have made the dangerous crossing on board small boats so far this year, according to data analysed by Sky News. This includes 1,087 boats, with an average of 41 people per vessel.