Record 711 migrants crossed the Channel yesterday

Some 711 people were detected crossing the English Channel on Wednesday, the highest number on a single day so far this year, according to provisional figures from the Home Office.

The cumulative number of arrivals by small boats in 2024 now stands at a provisional total of 8,278.

This is 34% higher than the total at the equivalent point last year, which was 6,192, and 19% higher than the total at this stage in 2022, which was 6,945.

Some 14 boats were detected on Wednesday, which suggests an average of around 51 people per boat.

Channel crossings had already hit a new record high for the first four months of a calendar year, jumping 34% on 2023 when 6,192 were recorded and up 19% on the total at this stage in 2022 (6,945).

Last year 29,437 migrants arrived in the UK, down 36% on a record 45,774 arrivals in 2022.

Since the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act became law after receiving Royal Assent on Thursday last week, 1,611 migrants have made the journey in 32 boats.  

The news comes as a migrant boat packed with 66 people on board was rescued off Dieppe trying to cross the Channel – where the stretch of water between France and the UK is at least 65 miles wide.

Men, women and children were on board the vessel when it got into difficulty on Wednesday morning off the coast of the French port.

Dieppe is 70 miles down the coast from Calais and Dunkirk where the vast majority of migrant crossings have been launched, heading to the Kent coast as the Channel is just 21 miles wide.

It is not clear at this stage if the boat had set off from the French coast near Dieppe, despite the greater journey distance, or if it had got lost and veered off course.

Lifeboats were scrambled to find the boat, the French authorities said.

A maritime coastguard vessel then found the stricken vessel and rescued the occupants.

Dozens of migrants made the crossing from the French coast near Calais on Wednesday and were intercepted by British Border Force vessels.

The French Prefecture Maritime said all 66 people were rescued on May 1 and brought them into the port.

In a statement they said the migrants were rescued by the Maritime Gendarmerie’s coastal maritime surveillance boat Yser.

‘The Yser rescued the boat, which was in difficulty, in the afternoon.

‘The crew rescued 66 castaways, including women and children.

‘The castaways were then taken to the port of Dieppe where they were taken care of by the land rescue services and the border police’, the statement said.

The perilous crossings cost more lives last week, as five drowned when nearly 100 migrants piled into a small boat which sank off the French coast, including Sara Alhashimi, seven.

Her distraught father, Ahmed, 41, said he all he wanted was for ‘my kids to go to school’ and saw the UK as his last chance after 14 years of failed claims to stay on the continent, even though his daughter was born in Belgium.

Sara had spent most of her short life living with relatives in liberal Sweden, which has boasted of its open doors policy but gave her just two days’ notice that she would be deported.

‘I will never forgive myself, but the sea was the only choice I had,’ Mr Alhashimi told the BBC from the northern French coast earlier this week.

THIRD MAN TO APPEAR IN COURT OVER CHANNEL CROSSING TRAGEDY

A third man has been charged with an immigration offence after five migrants died trying to cross the English Channel.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said Mohammed Jibril, 23, from Sudan, will appear at Reading Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, charged with entering the UK illegally.

He was detained in Hayes, west London, and was interviewed by officers on Wednesday.

It comes after two other males from South Sudan and Sudan were charged over the incident, but disputes about their ages and whether they are youths have delayed court proceedings.

The pair claimed they are 15 and 16, but initial age assessments by immigration officers and a social worker placed them in their early 20s.

Further in-depth assessments have been ordered by Folkestone Youth Court.

The NCA previously said it was working with Kent Police, immigration enforcement teams and Border Force to support the French-led investigation into the incident off the northern French coast on April 23.

A dinghy carrying more than 100 people set off from Wimereux at around 6am but got into difficulty.

Three men, a woman and a seven-year-old girl died.

Nearly 50 people were rescued but 58 others refused to leave the boat and continued their journey towards the UK, the French coastguard said, with several other boats later embarking on the crossing.

The NCA has said more than 50 people who were on board the dinghy which arrived in the UK have now been interviewed.

An 18-year-old man from Sudan has also been arrested over the incident and remains on bail pending further inquiries.