Record 853 migrants cross Channel on small boats in ONE day: UK authorities responded to 25 separate incidents on Wednesday – as THIRD asylum seeker dies trying to reach Britain in last two weeks
- Some 853 migrants crossed the English Channel on small boats Wednesday
- One person found dead on the beach of Wissant, near Calais, on Thursday
- Two other people were found suffering from hypothermia nearby
- French authorities said they were treated by paramedics and hospitalised
A record 853 migrants crossed the English Channel to the UK on small boats in a single day on Wednesday.
The Home Office confirmed UK authorities had to rescue or intercept this number of people from 25 incidents.
The arrival tally eclipses the previous daily record of 828 set in August and is the highest number of crossings ever recorded in one day in the current crisis.
It comes after French authorities said two migrants died this week while attempting the journey and several more were feared to have been lost at sea last week.
More than 21,000 migrants have made the crossing to the UK so far this year, analysis shows. This is more than double the total for the whole of 2020.
In 2019, Home Secretary Priti Patel promised to make migrant crossings an ‘infrequent phenomenon’ by spring 2020 and then pledged in August last year to ‘make this route unviable’.
Meanwhile, migrants were moved into a dedicated centre just outside Calais city centre on Friday morning.
A bus load of people were brought to the centre after the French state vowed not to leave migrants in Calais wandering the streets after tearing down their camps.
A government spokesman previously promised they would be ‘systematically’ offered shelter.
A group of migrants are pictured at the Calais migrant centre as they wait to be processed
Teenage boys were pictured messing around as they collected food in Calais today
The Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea said one person was found dead on the beach of Wissant, near Calais. Pictured, a group of migrants are brought to Dover by Border Force on November 2
The British Government has agreed to pay France millions of pounds to increase security on its northern coast.
Campaigners and aid charities have repeatedly called on ministers to overhaul the asylum system in light of the soaring numbers.
Yesterday, a migrant died after attempting to cross the English Channel to get to the UK, according to the Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea.
It said one person was found dead on the beach of Wissant, near Calais, on Thursday morning after the discovery of a boat filled with water.
Two other people were found nearby suffering from hypothermia.
The death was the third fatal incident in the past ten days, after at least one migrant was reported to have gone overboard by men rescued on a small boat off Harwich last Tuesday and another body was found off Dunkirk on Wednesday.
French authorities said they were treated by emergency services before being taken to a local hospital.
Irish ferry Isle of Ishinore had to stop mid-crossing to rescue a sinking migrant boat on Wednesday morning
Migrants head towards the new Calais Migrant Centre in France
One migrant was wearing a cast on their leg and used crutches to head inside the centre
Volunteers helped process migrants at the Calais centre on Friday morning
One man was wearing a cast and using crutches to move around as he waited to be processed
Crowds of people were brought to the centre on a large bus on Friday morning
It is believed the person was unconscious when they were pulled from the water and pronounced dead as rescuers returned to the dock.
Another has been reported as missing.
French authorities said more than 400 people were rescued during a French-led rescue operation in the Strait of Pas-de-Calais on Tuesday night and into Wednesday.
UK authorities on Tuesday rescued or intercepted 456 people who had navigated busy shipping lanes from France in small boats.
Migrants are pictured as they collect food from a Care For Calais Van in the French city
The boys appeared to lean over an electronic device as they waited for food in Calais
Migrants waiting in Calais were brought food by a Care 4 Calais van today
Equipment was loaded into a van after food was handed out today in Calais
Migrants were photographed in Calais on Friday morning
The men were handed bags of food by charity workers in Calais on Friday
The migrants appeared to celebrate being handed their food parcels in Calais
The young men were pictured laughing at something on one of their phones on Friday
Pictured, another group of migrants were brought to Dover on Wednesday
Migrants come ashore at Dungeness in Kent, escorted by border officials and RNLI, after crossing the English Channel
According to data compiled by the PA news agency, prior to that at least 19,756 people had already reached the UK so far this year, bringing the total to more than 20,200.
This is more than double the total for the whole of 2020.
It comes after another migrant died when his boat capsized in the Channel on Wednesday. The body of the man, who has not been identified, was recovered by the French authorities off Dunkirk.
Natacha Bouchart, the Mayor of Calais, said Emmanuel Macron’s government must ‘strongarm’ Britain
He is believed to have drowned. An unknown number of migrants aboard the same dinghy were rescued, a government source said.
Footage reveals the moment a Channel ferry was forced to stop and rescue migrants in a sinking dinghy on Wednesday.
Photos taken from onboard the Isle of Ishinore show more than a dozen migrants on a packed boat being propelled through the world’s busiest shipping lane by a single man holding a flimsy paddle.
The ferry stopped midway through a crossing from Dover to Calais after the craft was spotted drifting 10.45am, with the captain telling passengers: ‘Apologies for the delay but we had to stop and rescue 13 migrants in distress who’s boat had run out of fuel and was sinking’.
The ship dispatched a rescue craft which threw a rope to the stricken boat so it could be pulled alongside. The crew hauled all 13 migrants to safety and found two of them were without life jackets. They were all taken to Calais.
Meanwhile, the Mayor of Calais yesterday called Britain an ‘Eldorado’ for illegal migrants and said it ‘lacks the courage’ to tighten its laws to deter Channel crossings.
In a call for showdown talks over migration, Natacha Bouchart told French radio station RTL that Emmanuel Macron’s government must ‘strongarm’ Britain to ‘overhaul’ the treaty that obliges France to control migrants before they cross the Dover Strait.
Dunkirk’s public prosecutor, Sebastien Pive, has announced a manslaughter inquiry into Wednesday’s death, saying the boat was so overloaded it broke down and sank.
Shocking photos taken from onboard the ferry showed more than a dozen migrants on a packed dinghy being propelled through the world’s busiest shipping lane by a single man holding a flimsy paddle
Ms Bouchart, who is a member of the centre-Right Republicans, accused Britain’s ‘soft touch’ on migrants of inflicting ‘trauma’ on Calais residents ‘for over 20 years’ by essentially luring people to the French port town from all over the EU.
‘We know that a migrant who arrives in England is taken care of. They are housed, they have an income,’ the Mayor said. ‘For them, England remains an Eldorado but the British Government does not have the courage to review its legislation in the field.’
Under the Touquet Treaty first approved in February 2003, the UK border was effectively moved on to French soil. As a result, the French government has complained that this ultimately leaves them – not Britain – in charge of the border protection arrangements.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has paid Paris the first installment of the £54million to counter Channel migrants, after her French counterpart, Gerald Darmanin, promised to stop 100 per cent of the boats if the UK paid the full amount.
However, fewer than half of the migrants have been intercepted by French authorities, The Times reported. And France has raised the prospect of ending checks on migrants unless Britain backs down in the ongoing post-Brexit dispute over fishing licences.
Either side can revoke the border agreement with just two years’ notice before it is cancelled.
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