ZAGREB (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that stronger European cooperation was needed after 27 migrants died a day earlier when their dinghy deflated as they made a perilous crossing of the English Channel.

       "We need stronger European cooperation in this area. France is a transit country," Macron said during a press conference in Zagreb.

       "I will also say very clearly that our security forces are mobilised day and night," the president added.

       France and Britain have traded blame over the worst accident of its kind on record in the waterway separating the two countries.

       (Reporting by Lucien Libert; Writing by Dominique Vidalon and Ingrid Melander; Editing by Richard Lough)