More than a dozen people have been taken to hospital after a mass brawl in Calais between migrants desperate to reach Britain.

The fighting broke out in the early hours of Monday morning between Sudanese and Eritrean migrants staying in a makeshift tent city known as "the jungle".

Emergency services said a fight that began after a tent was set alight quickly escalated into running battles with iron bars.

Some 24 people were injured, with 14 needing hospital treatment.

The battle is the latest violent incident involving migrants who arrive in Calais hoping to cross the English Channel and settle in Britain.

Last week, a migrant suffered a gunshot wound, apparently after a battle between smugglers.

Around 2,300 migrants, mostly from Sudan, Eritrea and Syria, live in the area known as "the jungle".

Calais is the main staging post for migrants trying to reach Britain from continental Europe without official documents, usually by smuggling themselves on one of the thousands of trucks that leave daily via the port and cross the Channel by ferry.