Rescued, 6 men who tried to reach Kent in a dinghy
SIX migrants were rescued from a 10ft inflatable dinghy off the Kent coast yesterday.
Their boat was spotted seven miles offshore at 5. 0am and they were plucked from the Channel by a Border Force cutter.
The men were the eighth group caught trying to cross to Britain in small boats since March. It is suspected that smugglers had dropped them within sight of the UK coast overnight before fleeing.
Their red dinghy did not have an outboard motor, which would have been the only realistic way the migrants could have completed a night crossing without help.
Photos of the vessel show only empty drinks bottles and a foot pump inside.
Once they reached Dover, the migrants were interviewed by immigration officials, who are keen to establish how they made it more than half way across the Channel.
A search-and-rescue helicopter and a Bor- der Force cutter, HMC Valiant, had been scrambled after the dinghy was sighted. The ship is understood to be one of just three Border Force patrol boats which protect more than 7,000 miles of UK coastline.
Charlie Elphicke, Tory MP for Dover and Deal, called on the Government to take more action to protect Britain’s borders.
‘This is yet another example of why we urgently need a new Dover patrol guarding the English Channel,’ he said. ‘Sooner or later there will be a terrible tragedy.’
The National Crime Agency revealed earlier this year that migrants trying to reach the UK were paying smuggling gangs up to £13,500 for their journey. Incidents have included 18 Albanian migrants who had to be rescued from a sinking dinghy off the coast of Dymchurch in Kent, and 17 Albanians found on a catamaran in West Sussex.