Survivors of the latest migrant disaster have claimed that the overcrowded boat could have been sunk on purpose in a bid to get to Britain more quickly.   

The survivors have also described their terror at being pitched into the Channel - and the horror of watching women and children drown.

Twelve people lost their lives and around 50 were rescued after the 26-foot long boat overturned.  

Speaking exclusively to Mail Online survivor Sami Berhane,from Asmara in Eritrea, claimed the boat may have been deliberately sabotaged by one of the passengers.

He alleges this might have been done in the belief that this would see them picked up and taken to England more quickly.

The 33-year-old said: ‘There were two Ethiopian men on the boat and both of them had lifejackets, but we did not have them.

‘When we saw the English boat, we started celebrating and shouting with happiness, but one of those men seemed to pull out a knife and started cutting the plastic or the rubber of the boat.

‘It did not take long before the water started coming into the boat and everybody started panicking. The boat soon went on its side and everyone was in the water.’

Police are already conducting a manslaughter investigation targeting the smugglers.

Officials have confirmed the boat was ‘ripped’ but it's unclear if there have been other accounts that the boat may have been sunk deliberately.  

Despite the near death experience three of the survivors insisted they will try to cross to Britain by small boat again as soon as they can.

MailOnline can reveal the cruel people smugglers, who charged each passenger €1500, had promised the migrant passengers that they would have lifejackets.

But when they boarded the vessel yesterday morning at Le Porte, close to Boulogne, only a handful were available and these taken by the smugglers themselves and only one or two passengers.

Mr Berhane said: ‘I did not have a lifejacket and I cannot swim because in Eritrea we do not have swimming pools or the sea and not many people can swim.

I started going under but I clung to the side of the boat for maybe 45 minutes before the police and the rescuers came.

‘ I saw bodies around me, people who swim and who had drowned.

‘I will never forget looking at them and around me there were about 40 mobile phones, backpacks and other items in the water.

‘ I knew the pregnant woman. She was in the jungle camp with me and this was her third attempt to try to get to England.

‘Her husband is already in England and she wanted to join him so that he could be there for their baby.

‘She had a lifejacket and I think they gave it to her because she was seven months pregnant.

“But she was screaming “help me help me, I have a baby inside me” and she was very scared.

‘ I was also in the water. And I told her that as she had a lifejacket, she should lie on her back and that she would be okay.

“Now I know that she is dead, I am really sad. I really feel sorry for her and her baby. This was her third attempt. Twice before she had gone there, but the water had gone into the boats and they had to turn back.’

Mr Berhane said he cling to the inflatable with his hands and even his teeth, but eventually let go and was unsupported in the water.

He said: ‘I should be dead. I was under the water for maybe two minutes and all I can taste today is the salty water.’

Still Attached to his arm was the plastic tube inserted to take blood samples in the hospital at Bell, where he and his friends were taken to.

They were released this morning and forlornly at Boulogne’s main railway station to head back by train to their migrant camp in Calais.

Another survivor Yonas Zeret, 30, from Asmara, said he was taken by helicopter to hospital after being rescued.

‘I was unconscious and they beat my heart and gave me oxygen to bring me back. I also should be dead.’

He said he had lived in Dortmund, Germany for several years and worked as a delivery driver but always saw England as the promised land.

Another survivor Gent Yamane,33, said she was making the paradise journey to England with her nine-year-old son Michael.

After recovering in hospital today, she only discovered that he was alive from another Eritrean.

‘ I did not sleep all night because I thought my son had died. But I spoke to a friend at the camp by telephone this morning and they told me that he was there.

“They told me that he was at the police station last night and he was crying and saying “I want my mummy.” 

‘ I am so happy that he is okay and I will see him today when I get back to the camp.’

Mr Berhane denied reports that they had been offered the chance to leave the boat by police soon after it set sail.

He added: ‘We were fed up and we have paid lots of money. We had been waiting there for two days and two nights without food and water and sleeping under trees.

‘When we went to the sea (beachside) The police told us to leave and we went into the local village and hid and then came back again. They did this to us several times, but we all wanted to get to England.’

He added: ‘ I will get to England and I will try again maybe in two or three weeks time.

‘It is Allah’s will whether I live or die. I could have been killed yesterday, or I may live another 60 years. It is God’s well. I am not scared.

‘England will give me a passport and then I can bring my mama and Papa from Eritrea because I have not seen them for five years. I first went to Sudan. I’m going to Libya because I did not want to go into the army. My family gave me the money and I also worked as a mechanic. ‘

He said his Eritrean passport, mobile phone and any money he had had been lost at sea and now he felt more alone than before.’