Fifteen migrants crammed into a small dinghy were escorted by the French navy into British waters on Sunday, as people continue to risk their lives in search of asylum in the UK.
The migrants’ small dinghy was escorted by the French navy boat Abeille Languedoc.
It was then intercepted by UK Border Force in the English Channel against the background of the White Cliffs of Dover.
It comes after 44 migrants were picked up in small boats off the Kent coast on Thursday, taking the year’s total number of illegal crossings to 1,980. Today’s incident adds to this number.
Fifteen migrants crammed into a small dinghy were escorted by the French navy into British waters on Sunday, as people continue to risk their lives in search of asylum in the UK. Above, the migrants’ small dinghy escorted by the French navy boat Abeille Languedoc
Fifteen migrants crammed onto the small dinghy to make the perilous journey to the UK
The number of migrants making the perilous journey to the UK in search of asylum has now stretched to almost 2,000 this year. Above, UK Border Force intercept the migrants’ dinghy in front of the White Cliffs of Dover
Aboard were men, women and children who told officials they were from Iran, Afghanistan and Syria, the Sunday Mirror reported.
The number of migrants making the perilous journey to the UK in search of asylum has now stretched to almost 2,000 this year.
This eclipses the estimated 1,850 people who landed in Britain in the whole of 2019.
At least 1,518 migrants have crossed to the UK in small boats since the coronavirus lockdown was announced.
This is despite the continuing Covid-19 crisis and repeated warnings of the dangers of crossing the English Channel in small vessels.
Migrants taken to Dover are issued with masks and are assessed for symptoms of Covid-19, but are not routinely tested.
Fifteen migrants crammed into a small dinghy are intercepted by UK Border Force today, above and below
Migrants taken to Dover are issued with masks and are assessed for symptoms of Covid-19, but are not routinely tested
The narrow Strait of Dover is the busiest shipping lane in the world and can feature dangerous conditions.
It comes after another 44 migrants were picked up in small boats off the Kent coast on Thursday.
They were rescued in three boats this morning and were seen being taken into the Port of Dover by the Border Force vessel Seeker around 11am.
One vessel is thought to have been carrying 13 refugees, another 15 and the third was holding 16. The migrants were mostly men.
A breeze and a drop in temperatures at sea mean they would have been very cold as they made the trip across the perilous Dover Strait shipping lane.
On Wednesday, four migrants were dramatically rescued three miles off the French coast – after they tried to paddle across the Channel on two windsurf boards tied together with rope and using shovels as oars.
The group, who were picked up by a French patrol boat at 6.35am after attempting the crossing in a make-shift vessel, had used shovels as oars.
Some 44 migrants were rescued in three boats on Thursday morning and were seen being taken into the Port of Dover by the Border Force vessel Seeker around 11am
They were picked up around three-miles from the Calais coast after being spotted in difficulty by the crew of cross-channel ferry Dunkirk Seaways.
The latest crossings will nudge this year’s tally closer to the 2,000 mark. Of the figure, 1,525 have illegally made it to Britain since lockdown began in March. Last month 741 reached the UK – a record for a single month.
The staggering milestone is a body blow to Home Secretary Priti Patel, who has repeatedly vowed to clamp down on crossings since taking up her post last year.
The Home Office has pumped millions of pounds into security measures to prevent migrant crossings from France, funding drones to patrol the country’s coastline – but the crisis has continued to worsen.