Illegal immigrants dangled children over the side of a ferry and threatened to throw them into the water.

The incident happened during a stand-off as police and immigration officials tried to detain 16 immigrants found aboard the ferry Sardinia Vera at Newhaven last night.

One port worker was spat at, kicked and bitten by a woman immigrant but was not seriously hurt.

Newhaven Coastguard Dave Riggs said: "The group apparently travelled through five countries and were on the last hurdle before reaching their goal.

"It got a bit riotous when they were stopped from getting off."

The Newhaven lifeboat stood by as children were held over the side of the ship.

The situation was calmed and the immigrants were taken away.

A Home Office spokesman said the 16 would be given temporary accommodation while their claims for asylum were processed.

The officials boarded the Dieppe to Newhaven ferry when it docked in Sussex at about 3pm yesterday.

The eight adults and eight children were all carrying false documents and were taken for questioning.

All are believed to be Romanian and were driving cars with Italian and French registrations.

Immigration officials acted on intelligence gathered from the list of passengers travelling on the ferry.

Steve Forrest, operations manager of ferry operator Transmanche, said: "They were checked in at Dieppe. They were in three cars and our staff thought all their passports were in order.

"When British immigration stopped them from disembarking, they started a bit of a riot and were eventually allowed off."