More migrants land in UK after crossing the Channel in small boats

More migrants land in Britain after crossing the Channel in small boats a day after a teenage refugee from Eritrea drowned when a dinghy carrying 60 people capsized – the fifth to die in northern France in three weeks

• A total of 25,382 people have made the crossing in 533 boats so far this year

More than 200 asylum seekers landed in Britain yesterday after crossing the English Channel in small boats, just one day after a teenage refugee from Eritrea drowned when a dinghy carrying 60 people capsized.

Official figures revealed that 218 people arrived aboard six dinghies yesterday, an average of 36 people packed onto each small boat.

It comes as people smugglers taking migrants across the Channel have created a ‘rush’ of business after warning those crossing of a fresh crackdown by Suella Braverman.

The Home Secretary warned at the Tory Party conference last week of a ‘hurricane’ of mass migration and slammed the Human Rights Act.

The latest figures of arrivals takes the number of migrants to come to the UK so far this year to 25,600 people in 539 boats. 

More than 200 asylum seekers landed in Britain yesterday after crossing the English Channel in small boats. Pictured: Migrants are brought into Dover Harbour today

Official figures revealed that 218 people arrived aboard six dinghies yesterday, an average of 36 people packed onto each small boat. Pictured: A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, from a Border Force vessel today

The latest figures of arrivals takes the number of migrants to come to the UK so far this year to 25,600 people in 539 boats. Pictured: Migrants are being brought into Dover Harbour today

The latest batch of arrivals follows the death of the unnamed teenager who was in an inflatable dinghy crammed with 60 men, women and children when it for got into difficulties in the sea near the French port in the early hours on Sunday. 

The youngster, aged 17 or 18 from Eritrea, is the fifth refugee to die in northern France in the last 21 days.

The boat capsized tipping everyone into the water, refugee charity Care4Calais reported. When the emergency services arrived they found the teenager’s body on the beach. 

‘The death toll of refugees in northern France is becoming overwhelming,’ the charity posted on its Facebook page.

‘This morning a young Eritrean man aged just 17 or 18, was found drowned on a beach near Calais. He is the fifth refugee to die in northern France in just 21 days.’

The charity said the dinghy, which was carrying 60 people, got into difficulties shortly after it left the shore. The small boat capsized in the sea, ‘tipping everyone into the water’, in the early hours of Sunday morning. 

The group made it back to land, but when emergency personnel arrived at 6.30am they found the teen’s body on the beach, ‘surrounded by discarded life jackets’.

‘It is not clear if he was washed ashore, or carried,’ the charity wrote, adding: ‘Many of those who had been on the boat were in a state of shock after the tragedy.’

Pictured: A small inflatable boat left on the beach in Gravelines, northern France, as migrants continue to make attempts to cross the Channel in small boats towards the UK on Friday

A total of 25,382 people have made the crossing in 533 boats so far this year compared to 45,755 in 2022. In 2021 28,526 were intercepted. Pictured: Migrants are brought into Dover Harbour after being rescued in the English Channel today

The latest batch of arrivals follows the death of the unnamed teenager who was in an inflatable dinghy crammed with 60 men, women and children when it for got into difficulties in the sea near the French port in the early hours on Sunday. Pictured: A view of a shoe left on the beach in Gravelines, northern France, as migrants continue to make attempts to cross the Channel in small boats towards the UK

Ten men and five women, all Eritrean, were taken in by members of the nautical club, which had opened up to help the survivors. Other French emergency services allowed the refugees to change clothes, and keep warm under survival blankets

‘This tragedy means that 15 refugees are known to have died on the English-French border so far this year, with hundreds more seriously injured. This carnage is utterly unacceptable, and would never be tolerated if the people dying were native British or French people,’ the charity added. ‘It is all the more shocking because the authorities have admitted they’re aware of the scramble to get into boats.’

The organisation criticised the governments in Britain and France for the influx in Channel crossing. 

Care4Calais wrote: ‘This scramble is driven by harsher and more frequent evictions in France, which makes people desperate to escape, and UK Government rhetoric that people tell us makes them keen to try to get there in case Channel crossings are somehow blocked completely.

‘People are dying in northern France not because of natural accidents, but because of conditions created by politicians. These conditions could be changed by introducing safe passage, and they know it. The young man that died alone this morning, 3000 miles from home, and for all those like him, deserve better than this: we will never stop campaigning until they get it.’

The latest tragedy comes after a 24-year-old Eritrean woman died trying to cross the Channel on September 26.

More than 200 migrants made the crossing on Sunday in at least four dinghies and brought into the port of Dover in Kent by Border Force vessels. It is the first crossings in more than a week due to strong winds.

A total of 25,382 people have made the crossing in 533 boats so far this year compared to 45,755 in 2022. In 2021 28,526 were intercepted. 

It comes as Ms Braverman, in a bald speech bound to anger lawyers and judges, told delegates it should be renamed the ‘Criminal Rights Act’ and pledged to do ‘whatever it takes’ to stop the crossings.

Now traffickers in Calais have warned those wanting to travel of a new ‘crackdown’ on the back of what she said in Manchester. And it comes amid an expected surge in solo migrants making the crossing on an inflatable.

It comes as Suella Braverman (pictured earlier this year), in a bald speech bound to anger lawyers and judges, told delegates it should be renamed the ‘Criminal Rights Act’ and pledged to do ‘whatever it takes’ to stop the crossings

A French prosecution source in Calais said: ‘The idea is to use the Home Secretary’s rhetoric as a way of frightening the lives out of those crossing to do it now as there won’t be long left.

‘They are creating a rush. That is great for business as autumn approaches and conditions become more challenging. They are sharing clips of the speech and the idea is to frighten migrants that this will soon be over. The smugglers know full well it won’t but it’s just another tactic.

‘It’s creating a rush around Calais and is great for the smugglers as the conditions approaching are far from ideal to cross.’

It comes after French police opened an investigation into the death of a teenage Eritrean migrant who died after drowning in the Channel on Sunday morning.

The source said it showed the ‘cunning’ of the smugglers. He added: ‘They are ruthless business people and will deploy any tactics possible to continue their trade.’

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