Up to 60 desperate migrants were brought ashore to Dover this morning, after enduring a treacherous Channel crossing. Six children are understood to be among those rescued.
The November 24 disaster, in which 27 migrants died after a dinghy deflated and sank, was the worst on record involving migrants trying to cross the Channel to Britain from France.
The lawsuit filed in Paris on Friday claims that as the boat was sinking the refugees sought to contact British and French rescue services, who passed the buck.
Speaking from a park in France, Mohamed Isa Omar said: I saw people dying in front of me. Those of us who could not swim, drowned and died within minutes. It was so cold the water, so cold.
Up to 50 people were supposed to board two boats ahead of the fatal voyage across Channel - but one vessel suffered engine trouble, those in camps in France claimed.