A near daily record of 801 migrants crossed the English Channel on Saturday in just 14 small boats, the latest government figures show.
The current record for the highest number of arrivals in one day so far this year is 882 in 15 boats on June 18.
The latest small boat disaster claimed the lives of eight migrants today after their dinghy got into difficulty off the coast at Ambleteuse, near Calais, in the early hours of this morning.
A ten-month-old baby was among those rushed to hospital following the tragedy, which was brought to attention when emergency services received a Mayday from the dinghy.
Several migrants lost their lives, said Jacques Billant, the Pas de Calais prefect, as he confirmed eight unidentified migrants were declared dead at the scene.
Some 53 migrants were attempting to reach the UK on the stricken small boat, with 45 surviving the disaster.
This is believed to be the inflatable dinghy which led to the death of eight migrants trying to cross the Channel
The French emergency services received a Mayday from a dinghy that got into difficulty off the coast at Ambleteuse, near Calais, in the early hours of Sunday morning. French officials are seen using a tractor to pull the damaged boat out of the water
At least eight UK-bound migrants drowned today after the dinghy (pictured) got into trouble on the Channel
Others were seen being rescued (pictured) from the boat which was carrying 53 migrants
Mr Billant said that six people were taken to hospital in relative emergency, including a ten-month-old baby with hypothermia.
Survivors of the accident come from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt and Iran, he added.
A UK Government spokesperson said French authorities are leading the investigation.
We can confirm there has been an incident in the Channel involving a small boat in French waters, the spokesperson said.
French authorities are leading the response and investigation. We will not be commenting further at this stage.
The deflated dinghy was seen being towed away with a tractor on the beach in Ambleteuse this morning.
It comes as French authorities rescued some 200 people off the coast of Calais over a 24-hour period between Friday and Saturday night.
The disaster at Ambleteuse took place just after 1am and – within six hours – another group of migrants were setting off in exactly the same location.
An emergency worker said: Bodies were being taken up on to a ramp at Ambleteuse, yet, by 7am, a second boat departure took place there too.
Boats have been setting off in the area throughout the weekend – there have been non-stop rescues.
A spokesman for the Regional Operational Centre for Surveillance and Rescue at Cap Gris-Nez confirmed that at least 18 attempts to reach Britain were made by different boats on Saturday.
Relatively calm conditions brought out the boats, all of them thought to have been organised by people smugglers charging around £1000-a-head for a passage to Britain.
French prosecutors were set start a criminal investigation into the Ambleteuse sinking, as police searched for the smugglers involved.
Between Friday and Saturday, one boat carrying migrants was located off the coast of Le Portel, with 55 rescued. Elsewhere, 61 migrants were saved off the coast of La Becque dHardelot, 48 were rescued near a lighthouse, and 36 others were recovered.
All of those rescued were taken back to land, French authorities said, adding that they monitored 18 attempts to launch boats across the Channel on Saturday.
The tragedy comes less than two weeks after the deaths of at least 12 people, including a pregnant woman and six children, when their flimsy dinghy broke up in the sea nearby.
It comes as French authorities rescued some 200 people off the coast of Calais over a 24-hour period between Friday and Saturday night. (File image of migrants being brought to Dover as they attempted to reach the UK earlier this month)
People walk on a windy beach in Ambleteuse, France, earlier this week, with the White Cliffs of Dover in the UK visible in the distance
The tragedy comes less than two weeks after the deaths of at least 12 people, including a pregnant woman and six children, when their flimsy dinghy broke up in the sea nearby. Pictured: Emergency services at the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, Pas-de-Calais
Responding to the reports of more migrant deaths in the English Channel, shadow home secretary James Cleverly, who is running to be Tory party leader, told the BBCs Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: What we are seeing now is sadly is more fatalities in the Channel overnight and in the early hours of this morning.
We have seen fatalities on illegal Channel crossings going up, because the very first action of this Labour government was to scrap an international partnership which was deterring migrants - we know this because those migrants told us so - and send out a signal to people smugglers that the UK is open for them to ply their evil trade.
They came into government with no plan to stop the boats or smash the gangs. Saying stuff is not the same as doing stuff.
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on the same programme: Its awful. Its a further loss of life.
He said he had been to the National Crime Agency and seen the awful sort of rubber dinghies that people are coming across the Channel with, many of them, of course, not able to make it in these contraptions.
Despite the disaster, Sir Keir Starmer last week insisted his Government was making progress in stopping boats.
The Prime Minister said he was convinced Labour can succeed in taking down the gangs behind the people-smuggling trade, as he attended a summit with law enforcement agencies and security services on the issue.
But shadow home secretary James Cleverly said: Even 12 tragic deaths cannot wake Labour up to the need for an actual plan to put a stop to the small boats crossing the Channel.
Visiting the National Crime Agency with Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on September 6, Sir Keir was asked how he could claim there is encouraging progress given the latest figures.
He told the BBC: Weve already managed to return over 3,000 people who are not entitled to be here.
That includes the single biggest dedicated flight that weve ever had.
So we are making progress. I acknowledge more needs to be done.
Weve got to take down the gangs running this vile trade of putting people into boats in the first place.
Thats why Im here today at the National Crime Agency with an operational summit to absolutely drive forward our work there.
Im determined that were going to reclaim control of our borders, something the last government lost control of.
Sir Keir will be in Italy on Monday for talks with counterpart Giorgia Meloni about her efforts to tackle the problem and the work they have done, particularly, with Albania.
The Prime Minister has said he is interested in the rollout of the policy, under which Tirana will accept asylum seekers on Italys behalf while their claims are processed.
The Prime Minister said he hopes to discuss his Ms Melonis strong ideas on the crucial topic of illegal immigration when he visits her in Rome.
It comes as Sir Keir Starmer revealed plans to discuss illegal immigration plans with Italian PM Giorgia Meloni (pictured together at Blenheim Palace in July)
It will be the third bilateral meeting between the two leaders in as many months, after they met at the NATO summit in Washington just after the election then again at Blenheim Palace when Britain hosted the European Political Community.
Speaking to reporters on his trip to the White House, Sir Keir said: Ive already had a preliminary discussion with Giorgia Meloni about this, about how we can work together on irregular migration.
She has of course got some strong ideas and I hope to discuss those with her.
She and I have already discussed how we can improve joint operations, so that is something we will discuss.
The latest eight deaths mean at least 45 people have died in Channel crossings so far this year, compared with 12 for the whole of 2023.
Some 22,440 people have crossed the Channel so far this year, with nearly 9,000 having made the crossing since the general election.
Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UKs Refugee and Migrant Rights Director, said of the latest disaster: This is yet another appalling and avoidable tragedy and our hearts go out to the families and friends of those whove died.
These perilous crossings are seemingly becoming more and more dangerous, suggesting smugglers are taking greater chances with peoples lives as they try to evade detection efforts by the UK and French authorities.
The Governments smash the gangs slogan and its security-heavy approach is contributing to the death toll because the refusal to establish safe asylum routes means these flimsy vessels controlled by people smugglers are the only real option for desperate people fleeing persecution.
Until UK ministers and their counterparts in France start sharing responsibility over the need for safe routes, we should expect this weekends tragedy to keep repeating itself time and time again.