THE CHILD MIGRANTS PLUCKED TO SAFETY
BEFORE dawn had even broken hundreds were preparing to make the treacherous journey across the English Channel.
Yesterday’s calm seas and sunshine proved too tempting and by dusk the number of migrants who had made it to Britain was thought to have been one of the highest ever recorded for a single day.
Babies and children were among the hundreds who made the successful crossing yesterday.
At least 50 dinghies, boats and even kayaks were apprehended or rescued by Border Force vessels. The previous record, set on September 2, was 416. However on that occasion Border Force intercepted just 28 boats.
Wearing facemasks and lifejackets, with some draped in towels, groups were taken to
Dover harbour by the large Border Force cutter, Seeker, and then brought ashore.
Some were thought to have been assisted by traffickers in Gravelines, near Dunkirk. Such were the numbers, the migrants, including a girl of around five clutching her teddy, a double-amputee and a man who appeared to have broken a leg, had to queue to be processed.
Some smiled and gave a ‘peace’ sign as they arrived on dry land but there were also ugly scenes as far-Right activists filmed the arrivals while shouting abuse. More than 6,500 migrants have successfully crossed the Channel this year alone – with September the busiest month on record despite a week to go.
It comes just hours after the first ‘migrant camp’ in Britain opened at a disused barracks in Folkestone, Kent. Another in Pembrokeshire, Wales, was targeted by dozens of protesters on Monday night after it was confirmed it was to house asylum seekers. Police said ‘tensions were running high’ after it was announced men aged 18 to 35 would be placed in Penally, near Tenby, with some attempting to blockade the entrance.
The angry protests had died down by the time the first arrivals entered the camp in the early hours of yesterday morning.