A total 27 migrants were found in one small boat at sea.

All were brought in to Dover.

The Home Office says that at 4.30am Border Force was alerted to the vessel travelling across the Channel towards the British coast.

A Border Force cutter and two coastal patrol vessels were deployed and intercepted the craft.

A total 26 men and one woman on board presented themselves as Iranian, Iraqi, Afghan and Pakistan nationals. They were transferred to the Border Force boats.

A Home Office spokesman said: "All individuals were brought to Dover, where they were medically assessed and found to be well, before being transferred to immigration officials for their cases to be dealt with."

HM Coastguard confirmed that they had also helped Border Force with the incident.

A spokesman said: "HM Coastguard is committed to safeguarding life around the seas and coastal areas of this country.

"We are 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."

This incident comes just two days after the Home Secretary revealed that attempts by migrants to cross the channel was so far this year double that of the whole of 2018.

"We are only concerned with preservation of life, rescuing those in trouble and bringing them safely back to shore..."

Sajid Javied said the count for 2019 was 1,150 attempts compared with 562 in the whole of 2018.

Today's incident now pushes up the net tally of migrant incidents to a net 95 incidents involving a total 843 people.

This is from a Kent Online count since November 8 when the trend of attempted crossings by small craft became increasingly apparent.

This figure is for migrants using small craft and landing on our shorts, including at Dover, Folkestone, Romney Marsh and Kingsdown, or being rescued at sea and brought in.

There is a gross figure of 124 incidents involving 927 people.

This is again our count from November 8 last year and includes those intercepted by French authorities and brought back to France.

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