Channel migrant numbers have doubled since last year

NEARLY twice as many migrants travelled across the English Channel in 2021 as last year.

More than 16,400 people had made the dangerous journey so far this year in small boats by Friday, according to Home Office data compiled by the PA news agency.

Last year’s total was more than 8,400 – meaning this year’s figure to date is closing in on doubling the 2020 total.

Further channel crossings were witnessed by PA over the weekend.

On Sunday, a Border Force coastal patrol vessel was seen arriving in Dover full of people as well as a lifeboat with around 40 or 50 people, including families and young children, on board.

From 8am to 12.30pm, it was estimated around 150 people had arrived.

Those who were arriving were seen all wearing blue surgical face masks and orange life jackets.

Later, a group were escorted by police and Border Force officers away from the beach at St Margaret’s Bay.

They had landed on the beach in a small boat following a number of arrivals from the Channel.

In October last year, a Kurdish-iranian family, including small children, died when their boat sank off the French coast.

Last month, a 27-year-old man from Eritrea died after he and four others jumped overboard as their boat started to sink.

Dan O’mahoney, clandestine channel threat commander, said: “The Government is determined to tackle the unacceptable rise in dangerous Channel

crossings using every tool at our disposal, at every stage in the journey.

“But this is a complicated issue requiring changes to our laws.

“The Government’s New Plan for Immigration provides the only longterm solution to fix the broken system and deliver the change required to tackle criminal gangs and prevent further loss of life.”

A Border Force official was seen carrying a crying toddler wearing a life jacket after a boat he was travelling on was intercepted in the Channel.