Shocking number of migrants that made it to UK on day that five died in tragedy revealed

Hundreds of migrants arrived in the UK on several boats on the same day five people - including a young girl - died on an attempted crossing.

Home Office figures have revealed that 402 people were brought to Dover, Kent, on April 23 after crossing the channel in seven boats.

The figures - released today - include individuals detected on arrival in the UK and those detected in the English Channel by UK authorities and subsequently escorted to the country.

Among that number were 57 people who arrived on British shores after being escorted off French territory by the country's navy following five tragic deaths on an overcrowded dinghy.

French investigators said on Tuesday that several dozen people were escorted to the UK after an incident in which their dinghy, reportedly packed with 112 migrants, faltered off the country's coast.

Officials said a "heavily laden boat" packed with passengers in Wimereaux, Pas-de-Calais, "appeared to be in difficulty a few hundred metres from the beach after passing a sandbank" early that morning.

Upon seeing the boat's distress, Jacques Billant, the prefect of Pas-de-Calais, said a patrol boat was deployed to rescue people who were abroad at the time and found people "unconscious and in great difficulty".

Six of them were taken to the beach for treatment but despite attempted resuscitation, five of them died.

A woman, three men and a young girl, aged just seven, were identified among the dead, and the girl's father reportedly collapsed into the arms of paramedics on hearing his daughter's fate.

Of the remaining passengers, 47 were rescued and brought to shore, but 57 remained on board and were escorted to UK shores after their boat started working again.

The UK Border Force said it had brought approximately 70 migrants to shore from the stricken dinghy, with others being aboard a vessel heading for Dover.