Ninety migrants have been intercepted while trying to reach the UK, including women and children.

It is the biggest surge of migrants intercepted in the English Channel and Dover in any one day.

The Home Office said 15 of the 90 migrants claimed to be minors.

They arrived off the Kent coast on several boats and a large-scale search and rescue operation was launched by British and French patrol boats.

Witnesses said some were carried off on stretchers to waiting ambulances, while others wrapped in blankets were checked over by paramedics.


HM Coastguard told Sky News it responded to "a number of incidents" off the coast, along with Kent Police, Border Force and other agencies.

Footage from the scene showed people being escorted off the Home Office's patrol cutter Searcher.

Image: Migrants are brought ashore on the Border Force vessel Searcher in Dover

Border Force said in the first incident, at around 2:15am, one of its vessels intercepted a rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) which was carrying a group of five males who presented themselves as Senegalese, Malian and Guinean nationals.

The force said in the second incident, also at around 2:15am, one of its vessels intercepted an RHIB which was carrying a group of 21 males who presented themselves as Syrian, Yemeni and Egyptian nationals.

Border Force and partner agencies said dealt with a further six small boat incidents today.

In one incident, at around 7:40am, a vessel intercepted a boat which was carrying a group of 12 males and females who said they were from Iraq and Iran.

In another incident, also at around 7:40am, a Border Force vessel intercepted a boat that was carrying 16 men who also said they were from Iran and Iraq.

Image: Women and children were among those rescued

A boat intercepted an RHIB carrying 12 people around an hour later, with the nationalities of those on board yet to be established.

In another incident, at around 10:20am, an RNLI vessel intercepted a boat that was carrying a group of 14 people - 12 men and two women, who said they were Iranian and Iraqi nationals.

Kent Police officers detained five suspected illegal migrants in Dover town centre at around 11:20am, with no further details currently available.

Border Force officers detained a group five people at Shakespeare Beach and Samphire Hoe who said they were Iraqi and Yemeni nationals.

Image: There has been a recent surge in migrant crossings

The Home Office said all of those found, apart from the group detained by Kent Police, were taken to Dover where they were medically assessed before being transferred to immigration officials to be interviewed.

Home Office director Tony Eastaugh said: "We have extra patrols on French beaches, drones, specialist vehicles and detection equipment which has been deployed to stop small boats leaving European shores.

"And it's working. Last year one hundred people smugglers were convicted for a total of 320 years."

Image: A suspected migrant is brought ashore on a stretcher in Dover

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency told Sky News while the interceptions were taking place: "HM Coastguard is co-ordinating a search and rescue response to a number of incidents off Kent this morning, working with Border Force, Kent Police and other partners.

"Border Force vessels Searcher, Speedwell and Alert have been sent, along with RNLI lifeboats from Dover and Littleston, a fixed wing aircraft and an HM Coastguard Search and Rescue Helicopter from Lydd.

"HM Coastguard is only concerned with preservation of life, rescuing those in trouble and bringing them safely back to shore, where they will be handed over to the relevant partner emergency services or authorities."

Image: A search and rescue operation by HM Coastguard was launched off the coast of Kent

It comes after nearly 200 migrants risked their lives to try and cross the Channel to the UK in just one week last month - despite repeated warnings about the dangers of making the trip.

It is the world's busiest shipping lane, with between 500 and 600 vessels passing through the narrow strait every day.

In December, 69 migrants were intercepted attempting to cross the Channel in small boats, while Border Force officials in November intercepted four boats in one day carrying 39 Iranian migrants.

The government has previously described the surge in migrant crossings as a "major incident".