39 people were saved from a migrant boat that started sinking in the English Channel on Wednesday, including eight children, a government source said.
The number differs from that provided by Kent County Council, which had earlier stated that 12 kids had been on the boat and taken into care.
Four people died in the incident, according to the council, and four more remain missing. A teenager was among the fatalities.
They were travelling in a crowded ship that began to sink in icy waters.
Crews on a nearby fishing boat and lifeboats helped with the rescue.
A search operation for the four people still missing is being carried out by drone.
“The reality is they are now looking for dead bodies rather than survivors,” the BBC’s Simon Jones has said.
In a joint statement, the UK and France pledged to “destroy” the business model of people-smuggling gangs.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman and her French counterpart Gérald Darmanin said the tragedy highlighted the need to jointly prevent the crossings.
“Our hearts go out to all those affected by this tragic event,” they said.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said some searches had taken place overnight with vessels in the area asked to post lookouts and report sightings to the Dover Coastguard.
Footage from Wednesday’s rescue showed the inflatable boat filling with water as some dressed only in T-shirts and thin lifejackets screamed for help.
The video – shared by the owner of the fishing trawler, Ben Squire – showed the crew of the fishing boat pulling people up out of the water and the boat with ropes.
Those rescued from the dinghy said they had each paid £5,000 to cross the channel, the BBC has been told.
After hauling people to safety, Mr Squire said the crew gave them hot showers and their own clothes, and fed them to help warm them up.
Charles Blyth, the safety officer at the company which owns the trawler, said it was “sheer coincidence” it was in the right place for the rescue.
“As soon as the individuals on that dinghy saw [our] fishing vessel, many of them started to jump off and swim,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
He said crew members onboard had been trained in emergency care for people going overboard.
Lifeboat crews that arrived at the scene 10 minutes after the fishing trawler encountered a “horrific” and “distressing situation”, the RNLI’s head of lifeboats said on Thursday.
Simon Ling thanked the “invaluable” actions of the fishing vessel, saying crew members had saved “countless lives”.
Temperatures at the time had dropped below 1C and were likely to have been colder out at sea.
A French organisation, Utopia 56, which helps migrants in Calais, said it was contacted at 01:53 GMT – with a voice message and a location – by a boat in distress in the Channel.
Nikolai Posner from the organisation said the voice message stated there were people in the water and families on board.
“It was clearly an emergency, he was calling for help,” he told PA News, adding that they could hear “babies screaming” in the background.
The organisation, however, has said it was not possible to verify whether the distress call was definitely from the boat in question.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed his sorrow at the “tragic loss of human life”.
In November 2021, at least 27 migrants died after a dinghy sank while heading to the UK from France.
Some 460 people made the journey from France to Kent in small boats between Friday and Sunday, the BBC’s Simon Jones said.
Nearly 45,000 people have made the journey this year so far.
It’s not clear where the children that were rescued have been taken, but Kent County Council works with the Home Office and police in the safeguarding of vulnerable children.