Migrants vow to continue trying to reach UK despite 27 dead in the Channel

Migrants in Calais told MailOnline today that they are more determined than ever to reach the UK despite 27 people drowning crossing the Channel yesterday - as people traffickers slashed their prices to fill their deathtrap dinghies to Britain.

People claiming to be from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan say that the chance of settling in the UK is worth facing the danger of dying getting to Dover with one declaring: 'We don't have a life. We want to live like you in the UK'.

Those still willing to risk their lives in rough November seas revealed that their budget boats had also burst off the coast, but they were rescued from French waters before anyone drowned. Yesterday's tragedy has seen smugglers slash 500 euros off the price of a one-way trip to Kent.

It came as the first picture of the doomed dinghy that deflated just off the coast of France emerged as French police again failed to stop 50 migrants crossing the Channel to Britain today. 17 men, seven women - one of whom was pregnant - and three children died yesterday.

Five people have been arrested in France over the 27 deaths, including one man held overnight driving a German-registered vehicle packed with inflatable ribs, although there is ‘no provable link’ with the sinking, according to prosecutors, despite French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin insisting all were ‘directly linked’ to the drownings. 

Thousands of migrants are in the Calais region hoping to get to the UK by Christmas, and speaking in France, a Kurdish computer programmer called Kochar, 25, told MailOnline: ‘It is not going to stop people from wanting to come to England. Everything in life is a risk, and it is worth a big risk to get to England'.

Another Iraqi Kurd called Aram, 41, said: 'There are some people who will be put off if they think they are going to die, but most people have no choice. We have to try to get to England.

‘I will get on a boat some time. It might be this week or it might be next. I got a call from my friend who told me about the people who had died. I did not know any of them.’

The migrants told how heartless people traffickers have slashed their prices for a place in a boat across by 500 euros since news of the tragedy filtered through to people living in makeshift camps around Grandy-Synthe near Dunkirk.

Those hoping for a new life in the UK told MailOnline that the fare for a place in an open dinghy had been reduced from 2,500 euros to 2,000 euros.

Kochar said: ‘Last week it was costing 2,500 euros to get a place. But last night I heard it had been discounted by 500 euros. It looks like the price has come down because of these people who have died. The people smugglers are worried about losing business – so they want to give a better deal'.

Aram said: ‘I heard that the price had come down today. You hear messages from everyone. I am glad it has happened. It is still far too expensive.’

He paid 2,500 euros to reach Germany from Kurdistan via the route through Belarus, and another 500 euros to get to France.

MailOnline spoke to another group of half a dozen Iraqi Kurdish migrants who told how they came close to death after their overcrowded inflatable boat sprung a leak in the Channel, and they were pitched into the freezing water

They said they had paid 2,500 euros each to be among 52 passengers crammed into a boat which left a beach near Dunkirk last Friday night.

The group who were standing in a bus shelter to escape the pouring rain outside an Auchan supermarket, said they had spent four hours motoring out to sea before disaster struck in the darkness.

One of them, a student called Ali, 22, mimicked the whistling sound of air escaping as the boat suddenly deflated.

He said: ‘The air came out and we all landed up in the water. It was so cold and we thought we were going to die. Luckily everyone had lifejackets so we floated. We were in the water for around 15 minutes and people were crying out before a French boat rescued us.

‘We had five young children and six women in the boat. It was a very dangerous situation and we were all terrified, but we were brought back here.

‘It is sad that people have died, but now we want to try again. It might be in one day or two days or longer. Right now, the weather is too bad to go.’

The 'flimsy' and 'very frail' grey inflatable boat was photographed by a lifeboat captain who arrived to find bodies floating in the water off Calais yesterday afternoon in the worst migrant tragedy in Anglo-French history.

Two survivors – an Iraqi and a Somalian – have told police their poorly made dinghy was hit by a container ship, puncturing its thin rubber hull and taking dozens of lives. 

And as Emmanuel Macron was urged to get a grip, French police again failed to stop a group of around asylum seekers crossing the Channel on two boats in choppy conditions this morning. They were brought shivering into a freezing Dover by the RNLI at dawn.

Small groups of officers were seen patrolling beaches close to Calais this morning but again failed to prevent dozens setting off for the UK in dinghies amid claims in Britain that the French have been sitting on their hands as 17 men, seven women - one of whom was pregnant - and three children died yesterday.

Boris Johnson, Mr Macron and their ministers are expected to hold more talks today as the Prime Minister insisted that British boots are needed on the ground in France to stop evil slave gangs 'getting away with murder'. 

As relations between the UK and France become increasingly fraught, Macron's minister in charge of the crisis, Gerald Darmanin, today blamed Britain for the crisis and claimed migrants are promised 'Eldorado in England' by people traffickers because of its suite of benefits and 'attractive' labour market.

Mr Macron is said to have ignored the renewed offer for help with patrols during his call with the PM last night with the French President, who insists he won't let the Channel to 'be turned into a cemetery', again accused by critics of allowing a bitterness over Brexit for his failure to tackle migrant traffickers.

Speaking on a trip to Croatia this morning, Macron hit back at critics claiming France is not doing enough. He said police have been 'working day and night' since the start of the crisis to stop boats - and have 'never had more' officers patrolling the coast. He said 'our mobilisation is total as far as I'm concerned'. 

French interior minister Mr Darmanin is expected to speak to his counterpart, Home Secretary Priti Patel, this afternoon. 

He said: 'It is Britain's attractiveness which is to blame, including its labour market. Everybody knows that there are up to 1.2 million clandestine migrants in the UK and English business leaders use that workforce to produce things that are consumed by the English'. 

He told French radio network RTL that the smugglers are 'criminals, people who exploit the misery of others, of women and children - there were pregnant women, children who died yesterday on that boat... and for a few thousand euros they promise them 'Eldorado in England'.  

As the blame game between Britain and France continues, it also emerged today:

More people making the perilous journey across the Channel have been brought ashore in the UK following the deadliest day of the current migrant crisis.

A group wearing life jackets and wrapped in blankets were seen huddled together on board an RNLI lifeboat before disembarking in Dover on Thursday morning, just a day after a dinghy capsized off the coast of Calais, causing the loss of dozens of lives.

Calais MP Pierre-Henri Dumont has said Macron must reject Britain's offer of boots on the ground in France, saying: 'That wouldn't work. It would require thousands of people. And there is also a question of sovereignty. I'm not sure the British people would accept the other way round if the French army was patrolling the British shore'.

Officials today demanded even more money from the UK taxpayer to stem the flow of thousands of migrants across the Channel each month as the blame game between Paris and London over the deaths of 27 people.  

As 6,000 crossed to Britain in November alone, the boss of the ports of Calais and Boulogne has insisted that Britain must start paying more on top of the £54million they give to France each year to stop people getting there by dinghy or hidden in lorries. 

Jean-Marc Puissesseau said: 'We are obliged to control each lorry to make sure there are no migrants inside. We do it for not a penny. It is gratis for your country, it costs the Port of Calais, 8 million (euros) a year to control and I want that to be discussed again with your government. That was signed when the UK was in the Europe and has no place'. 

Natacha Bouchart, the Mayor of Calais, blamed attractive benefits in Britain for the crisis. She said: 'I say that enough is enough. The British government has imposed immigration control on our territory for the last 20 years. It has never had the courage to control this immigration back home. You have to react, react quickly to make it all stop.'   

Ahead of talks with Home Secretary Priti Patel, French interior minister Mr Darmanin said the loss of 27 lives was an 'absolute tragedy' as he blamed human trafficking gangs who promised people the 'El Dorado of England' for a large fee.

He told French radio network RTL that since the start of the year, police and rescuers there have saved 7,800 people in French waters in the Channel.

The minister did not have further information about the circumstances of the boat's capsizing, or the victims' nationalities, but said the two survivors were Somali and Iraqi and had been treated for severe hypothermia.

The politician again pointed the finger of blame at human trafficking gangs, saying they are 'criminals, people who exploit the misery of others, of women and children - there were pregnant women, children who died yesterday on that boat... and for a few thousand euros they promise them 'Eldorado in England'. 'And sadly, this has been repeated every day for the last 20 years'.

Four alleged people smugglers thought to be connected with the disaster were arrested by police north of Dunkirk, near the France-Belgian border, on Wednesday evening after tragedy struck shortly around 2pm.

Five women and a girl were believed to be among the casualties, with the disaster coming just hours of French police sat and watched boats leave their shore. 

An 'overloaded' boat capsized in rough seas amid rain and cold weather and was found by fishermen, with three coastguard vessels and a helicopter rushed to the scene.  

The 27 deaths are the biggest single-day loss of life from migrant crossings in the Channel, with the previous grim record believed to be a family of five Kurdish-Iranians who drowned in October last year. Before the accident, a total of 14 people had drowned this year trying to make it to Britain. 

Mr Johnson chaired an emergency Cobra meeting on Wednesday afternoon as a search and rescue effort continued after the disaster amid anger from Tory MPs over soaring numbers of migrant crossings from France - with nearly 27,000 landing on the south coast this year.

Meanwhile, the French President also called for an emergency meeting of European ministers, the BBC reported, as he vowed: 'France will not let the Channel become a cemetery.' Mr Macron later urged Mr Johnson in a phone call to stop Britain's politicisation of migrant flows for domestic gain, the Elysee Palace said. 

But migrants in Calais insist they will try again despite the risk they may die. 

Ali, 23, is also from Iraq. He said he has been in France for more than a month, adding: 'There's people here from Turkey, Belarus.

'We don't have a life. We want to live like you in the UK.

'You only have one life. People are trying and they die or have a chance to get past (the Channel.)

Speaking about Wednesday's deaths, he said: 'They had no chance to pass, but we maybe do.'

A group of men were found sheltering across from a supermarket in Grande-Synthe.

Shivan, 22, told the PA news agency he had gone to France from Iraq. He said he has no living family and added: 'We are waiting for our transport. No one has told us when we will be collected.

'We wait and people come and go. We don't have anywhere, so just sleep here.'

Shivan said he wants to go to the UK because there is a 'better life.'

He said: 'We just want to live. We're not scared to cross; it's better to cross. To get to the UK it's about 15,000 euro. Maybe some people can get there for 2,000 euros, it depends.'

He said he found his way to France by 'asking people' in Turkey.

The beaches north of Wimereux near Calais which has been repeatedly used as a launching point for migrant boats in recent weeks, were quiet this morning with no boats being launched.

It is believed that people smugglers were put off mainly by strong northerly winds which would have been whipping up waves out to sea, although the sea appeared calm from the beach.

The beaches were patrolled throughout last night by teams of French police who searched the sand dunes with powerful torches.

The officers were also seen driving up and down neighbouring sandy beaches in a VW pick up truck, equipped with floodlights.

Officers in the same truck were filmed standing an watching earlier yesterday as a large group of migrants carried their inflatable on to a beach and launched into the sea.

Two French Navy patrol boats called Abeille Languedoc and Aramis patrolled around two miles off shore as dawn broke.

A local resident who was walking on the beach said: ‘I heard from some officers that they wanted to stop boats today after all the people died.’

MailOnline found the remains of one 40ft long boat abandoned halfway down a cliff after it apparently deflated while being carried towards the beach.

Lying inside it was an instruction manual written in English for a 2 stroke outboard engine, raising the possibility that engines for migrant boats might have been shipped from UK suppliers

The heavily waterlogged 34 page manual included full instructions and tips on operating T series engines made by a variety of manufacturers, as well as questions and answers for tackling faults.

The engine which would have been attached to a wooden block at the rear of the boat had been salvaged, possibly to be used on another trip.

The wrecked boat with plywood floor panels was of a similar type to the black inflatable boats which MailOnline saw being launched from the same beaches near Wimereux last week.

Boat manufacturers in the UK say that that the huge inflatables have no commercial purpose other than for transporting migrants, and have speculated that they are being illicitly made to order in China for people smuggling gangs.

Downing Street said the two leaders later spoke and agreed on the need to urgently step up efforts to tackle the problem and to 'keep all options on the table'.

Mr Johnson then made a renewed offer of hundreds of British 'boots on the ground' to his French counterpart, but a diplomatic source said Mr Macron gave no immediate reaction.

The group of 34 migrants had set off aboard an inflatable described by Mr Darmanin as 'very frail – like a pool you blow up in your garden'. There were reports that it might have been hit by a large vessel, possibly a container ship.

Mr Johnson said on Wednesday he was 'shocked and appalled' and that action to address the crisis must now follow.

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