Border Force officials had intercepted 11 dinghies filled with desperate migrants chancing their luck at a life in the UK – pushing the total number of arrivals for the year past 24,000.
Migrants disembark the Border Force vessel after being rescued from the Channel (Image: Getty)
A seemingly-bustling Border Force vessel was pictured mooring at Dover after rescuing scores of migrants making desperate journeys across the English Channel.
Dover in Kent is no stranger to seeing makeshift-dinghies land on quieter beaches, with border officials patrolling the world’s busiest shipping lanes for inflatables, often dangerously overloaded with people.
Saturday, September 21 was no exception with 707 people rescued from the perilous waters – bringing the total number of crossings so far this year to more than 24,000.
A relatively smooth and warm day in Kent and Calais made for more attractive crossing conditions.
Some may have seen it as one of the last settled days of British summer to make the journey.
The figures tally with official Home Office data from yesterday.
Eleven boats were intercepted in the busiest day for a week.
There were no arrivals on any of the three previous days – but the totals for September 15, 16 and 17 were 292, 65 and 30 respectively.
Migrants disembark at Dover after being picked up by Border Force (Image: GETTY)
The total for the year so far is 24,335, which is up one on the number of people who made the crossing by this time last year, but 20 percent down on 2022.
Eight men died earlier this month with six people including a 10-month-old baby being taken to hospital after a boat with 53 migrants on board crashed into rocks off the coast of Ambleteuse in the Pas-de-Calais region of northern France.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced this month that £75 million would be used to boost the number of border security officers amid the Government’s bid to crack down on people smugglers, using money redirected from the scrapped Rwanda deportation plan.
The cash will also pay for hidden cameras and better monitoring technology as the Home Office sets up its new Border Security Command, led by a former police chief, as it aims to speed up investigations and increase the likelihood of successful prosecutions.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper (Image: Getty)
Earlier this year, it was also announced that an extra 100 specialist investigators will be allocated to the National Crime Agency (NCA) as part of efforts to curb Channel crossings.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer also said during a visit to Rome that he was “very interested” in Italy’s efforts to curb levels of irregular immigration.
The “dramatic reductions” in the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea into Italy is something the Government wants to understand, he added.
