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The Refugee Council said that government enforcement efforts have increased the dangers of crossings, with more people crammed into less seaworthy boats, external.

The group found damage to its hull, propeller and rudder, but the Ruby was still deemed “seaworthy”.

The department argues that this week's deaths in the Channel demonstrate the "increasingly extreme measures the gangs are willing to contemplate as more people are crammed into less seaworthy vessels".

These features, along with previous reconstruction experiments, indicate these were seaworthy vessels, a conclusion supported by the presence at the site of stone tools linked to nearby islands.

When UK Border Force experts later examined the remains of the inflatable, they concluded it had not been remotely seaworthy but designed to pack in as many people as possible to maximise profits.