At least 12 dead after boat carrying migrants capsizes in the English Channel

Tracking the rescue operationpublished at 17:48 British Summer Time

17:48 CEST

By Joshua Cheetham, BBC Verify

BBC Verify has been monitoring ship tracking website MarineTraffic to find out more about the rescue operation.

It appears to have been a very busy day in the canal, with a lot of activity related to rescue and salvage operations.

French authorities said rescue efforts began shortly after 08:40 GMT.

At about this time, MarineTraffic shows a salvage vessel named Minck going off course near Cap Griz-Nez.

It heads north and stays in an area about 5 km from the coast. At around 09:30 GMT it is joined by two fishing vessels, La Bretonne and Murex, and at 09:35 by another French-flagged vessel, AX DFP1.

The ships then head north and encounter a French search and rescue speedboat, the PDT Jacques Lebrun. They are then joined by a French warship. Soon after, all ships except the warship head south and dock at Boulogne-sur-Mer.