Seven young children among scores of migrants rescued in English Channel

Toddlers carried ashore at port of Dover after rescue on Sunday

A young child is carried ashore as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, by Border Force officers. PA

Children too young to walk were among a group of more than 100 migrants who arrived in Dover on Sunday after a rescue off England's south-east coast.

Pictures showed toddlers carried ashore in the arms of officials after being brought into the port aboard a Border Force patrol boat.

Adults wearing lifejackets and wrapped in blankets also arrived in Dover.

One man wearing a black hooded top under his lifejacket gave a thumbs up as he was brought into the Kent port.

Britain's Home Office has not confirmed the number of people who made the crossing on Sunday but witnesses said there were about 150.

This would mean at least 20,000 people have now attempted the perilous journey across the English Channel since the start of last year, including 2,000 in the first half of this month alone.

Many are risking death by coming to the UK aboard dinghies, kayaks and other small boats.

The Home Office has pledged to make the crossing "unviable" but has appeared powerless to stop people smugglers taking advantage of calm weather to launch vessels into Britain.

The latest arrivals come days after a 27-year-old Eritrean man died trying to reach the UK when a boat sank off the French coast.

The English Channel is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and the waters have claimed several lives.