The record-breaking mega-dinghy which reached Britain with 230 migrants was originally carrying more than 260 passengers including children when it almost sank, it has emerged. When the overloaded boat – which was designed for a maximum of 40 people – was battered by choppy waters, at least 30 people were thrown into the English Channel.A photo shows them floating in the sea before they were rescued by French police and gendarmes, who have a controversial policy of not intercepting small boats at sea because they claim it could could endanger those on board. French lifeboatmen yesterday described how scores of men, women and children packed onto the vessel on a beach between Berck-sur-Mer and Merlimont, south of Le Touquet, on Sunday afternoon. A spokesman for the SNSM voluntary sea rescue organisation – France's equivalent of the RNLI – said all had been hiding in sand dunes after paying people smugglers for a passage.He said: 'A veritable tide then rushed the approximately 15-meter (49ft) inflatable boat. Due to overloading, several people were thrown from the vessel – around thirty ended up in the water as the craft continued on its way.'The picture released by the SNSM at Berck shows dozens of mainly young men floundering in the Channel, following the initial boarding soon after 5pm.Jean-Marc Lamblin, director of the SNSM's Berck-sur-Mer branch, said he was seeing ever-larger boats being used by smuggling gangs and there was 'no limit' to how many people they would cram on board. Around 30 migrants floating in the Channel after being flung from the mega-dinghy (left) A dramatic photo released by the French lifeboat service showed the boat almost sinking The boat after it carried on its journey with a record-breaking 160 migrants onboard Migrants run towards the beach to board the dinghy at a beach in northern France yesterday