Nearly 1,000 migrants cross the English Channel in small boats on the busiest day in two years

Nearly 1,000 migrants crossed the English Channel in small boats on Saturday – the highest number in a single day in almost two years.

A total of 973 migrants crossed the English Channel into Britain in 17 small boats on Saturday – killing four people on the journey. According to reports, the four migrants were killed in two incidents.

It marked a record 24-hour high since November 12, 2022, when there were 1,214 arrivals.

The latest wave of crossings also meant that the running number of arrivals for 2024 – 26,612 – has now overtaken the same mark set last year, when it stood at 25,330.

It comes after a two-year-old boy was ‘trampled to death’ on an overcrowded boat off the coast of France on Saturday while trying to cross the English Channel, the prefect of the Pas-de-Calais region confirmed.

The child was found yesterday morning on a small boat with reportedly nearly 90 migrants crammed on it.

A woman and two men, all believed to be in their 30s, also died while crossing the Channel in a separate incident on Saturday.

Fourteen other migrants picked up on board the rescue boat were taken back to France to be interviewed by border police and a 17-year-old was taken to a hospital in the port city of Boulogne-sur-Mer after suffering burns to his head. legs.

Boulogne-sur-Mer prosecutor Guirec Le Bras said the child, who appeared to have been crushed during a jostling on the boat, was born in Germany to a 24-year-old Somali mother.

In a separate incident, Billant said rescuers found the three migrants in the bottom of a boat and rescued several others who fell overboard.

It is believed engine failure caused panic among the 83 passengers crammed onto the small boat, resulting in a deadly stampede.

The migrants rescued on Saturday were from Eritrea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iran, Ethiopia, Libya, Syria, Egypt, Kuwait and Iraq, Billant added.

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He added that his newly appointed government will “intensify the fight against these mafias who make money from these deadly crossings.”

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier said the country needs a tougher immigration policy, claiming he would be “ruthless” towards human traffickers who profit from human misery.

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“I have been in contact today with French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau,” she continued.

A woman and two men, all believed to be in their 30s, also died while crossing the Channel in a separate incident on Saturday

“We met this week at the G7 in Italy to discuss our determination to increase cooperation and law enforcement.

“We will pursue and dismantle criminal gangs that undermine border security and endanger so many lives.”

Cooper has pledged an immediate investment of £75 million in border security, with funding made available to the National Crime Agency to pay for covert operations equipment to disrupt people smugglers.

The Home Office said this would support the conduct of criminal investigations and disruption operations in Britain, across Europe and in upstream countries.

Retailleau responded: ‘Today several people died trying to cross the Channel.

‘A child was trampled to death in a boat. A terrible tragedy that should make us all aware of the tragedy that is unfolding.

‘The people smugglers have the blood of these people on their hands.

“Our government will intensify the fight against these mafias who are getting rich by organizing these crusades of death.”

Last week, sources close to the Home Secretary boasted that the government had turned the tide on the Channel crossings.

Ms Cooper is said to believe Labour’s policies are now deterring arrivals, after the number of migrants crossing in September was the lowest in four years.

A Home Office source told The Sun last week: ‘What we will hopefully see is the difference in disrupting the supply chains of the smuggling gangs.’

The latest tragedies have left a total of 51 people dead this year trying to make the dangerous journey across the Channel. The figure for 2023 is reportedly 12.

On Friday, after bad weather halted crossings for four days, a total of 395 people made the risky journey across the Channel in seven boats.

Saturday’s total brings the number to be collected over the two days to 1,368.

Since Labor came to power in July, 11,584 migrants have been intercepted in 230 boats in the Channel.

Saturday’s deaths also come as a series of shipwrecks made 2024 the deadliest in recent years on the English Channel.

Last month, 12 people died after a boat carrying migrants broke apart while crossing from France to Britain.

About two weeks later, eight migrants died in a similar crossing attempt.

Speaking after Saturday’s disaster, Dover MP Mike Tapp said: ‘This is another tragedy. We are making progress in putting in place the necessary structures and partnerships to tackle the smuggling gangs.

“I have no doubt that working with our French counterparts and the EU is essential to make this route unviable to the evil smuggling gangs.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘We all want to put an end to dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.

‘As we have seen in so many recent devastating tragedies in the Channel, people smuggling gangs don’t care whether the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay.

“We will do everything we can to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.

“We are making progress and strengthening our workforce in the UK and beyond.

“Our new Border Security Command will strengthen our global partnerships and increase our efforts to investigate, apprehend and prosecute these vicious criminals.”

This week, Britain and other G7 countries agreed an action plan against smuggling aimed at boosting cooperation.

The Home Office said this included joint investigations and intelligence sharing in an effort to tackle criminal smuggling routes.

The action plan also describes ‘working together’ with social media companies to monitor the internet and various platforms and prevent them from being used to facilitate migrant smuggling and human trafficking.

This included a call on social media companies ‘to do more to respond to online content advertising migrant smuggling services’.