Beach vigil held for Channel migrants who drowned at sea

Tuesday's vigil for those who died on Saturday was held at Sunny Sands beach in Folkestone

About 200 people have attended a vigil on a beach in Kent in memory of a number of migrants who died in the Channel at the weekend.

Six men drowned and 59 people were rescued after a migrant boat sank off the French coast early on Saturday.

A councillor who attended the event at Sunny Sands beach in Folkestone on Tuesday evening said the government could "stop this overnight".

A government spokesperson described the deaths as "devastating".

The overloaded vessel, which got into difficulty and capsized 12 miles (20km) off Sangatte, was said to be one of a number of migrant vessels which set off in the hope of reaching the UK.

The incident happened in French waters at about 04:00 local time, with British and French teams working together to rescue the migrants.

The people on board were reported to be mainly Afghan, with some Sudanese.

On Saturday, people were seen being brought ashore on stretchers at Dover for medical treatment

Attending the vigil, Labour councillor Bridget Chapman said the government had to give migrants a "better option".

"The fact is, we could stop this overnight if the government was to offer safe routes for people. That would break the business model of the people traffickers overnight," she said.

"But they refuse to do that and we're here to say, you say you're doing it in the name of coastal communities like ours, it's not what we want."

A government spokesperson said the deaths were "devastating" and their thoughts were with the victims' families and friends.

"This incident is sadly another reminder of the extreme dangers of crossing the Channel in small boats and how vital it is that we break the people smugglers' business model and stop the boats," they added.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who chaired a meeting with UK Border Force officials on Saturday, said the migrants' deaths were a "tragic loss of life".