Another Channel migrant drowns
As those who make it shout ‘Yay! UK good!’...
A MIGRANT died when his boat capsized in the Channel yesterday after hundreds more attempted the crossing.
The body of the man, who has not been identified, was recovered by the French authorities off Dunkirk.
He is believed to have drowned. An unknown number of migrants aboard the same dinghy were rescued, a government source said.
It was the second 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.
The tragedies came as the total who have been rescued or intercepted passed the 20,000 mark this year, compared with 8,410 for the whole of last year.
An estimated 500 or more were picked up by the Border Force and RNLI yesterday, a day after 456 made it here.
Migrants who successfully made the crossing shouted ‘Yay! UK good!’ as they were ferried into Dover aboard an RNLI lifeboat yesterday.
Video clips showed the passengers, mostly young men, expressing their delight at reaching our shores.
Two days of calm weather have seen crossing attempts soar. Yesterday’s arrivals began shortly after 7am as the Morrell, an RNLI lifeboat based at Dungeness, brought the first small group into Dover.
An hour later, around 40 more migrants disembarked from the Border Force cutter Hunter before, at 8.30am, the Morrell returned with another 30 or so.
Dozens more were brought into Dover over the day. There were also two reported landings on the beach at Dungeness, involving around 80 migrants.
A ferry crossing from Dover to Calais was forced to stop mid-Channel to rescue 13 migrants. Footage taken from Irish Ferries’ Isle of Inishmore showed the men packed on to a sinking inflatable. A lifeboat was launched and the migrants taken aboard and on to Calais.
The surge in crossings led Dover MP Natalie Elphicke to call for controversial ‘pushback’ tactics to begin immediately against migrant dinghies.
Mrs Elphicke said the French had ‘entirely lost control of their border’, adding: ‘It’s time to take forward additional measures including turning boats around and swiftly returning those who come in illegally.’
The tactics have been approved by Home Secretary Priti Patel but have yet to be deployed, with France saying the measures would breach international maritime law.
‘The French have lost control’