Some 257 migrants arrived in UK day after 12 died in ‘year’s deadliest crossing’

Some 257 migrants arrived in the UK on Wednesday after crossing the English Channel, a day after 12 people died attempting the perilous journey.

A pregnant woman and six children were among those who lost their lives in what is being described as the deadliest Channel crossings tragedy of the year so far when their boat was “ripped apart” and sank off the northern French coast at Cap Gris-Nez on Tuesday.

Five boats arrived on Wednesday, which suggests an average of around 51 people per boat. People thought to be migrants were pictured being brought ashore in Dover, Kent, amid calm weather conditions at sea.

The cumulative number of arrivals by small boats in 2024 now stands at a provisional total of 21,977.

This is 3% higher than at this point last year, when the total stood at 21,372, but 20% lower than at this stage in 2022, when the total was 27,409.

There have been 2,683 arrivals in the past nine days, from August 27 to September 4 inclusive – the highest in any nine-day period so far this year.

There were 29,437 arrivals across the whole of 2023, down 36% on a record 45,774 in 2022.

Up to 65 people were rescued in Tuesday’s incident, which Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer branded “shocking and deeply tragic”, telling MPs in the Commons: “We must have a renewed determination to end this.”

His comments came after Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said “vital” efforts to dismantle “dangerous and criminal smuggler gangs” and to boost border security “must proceed apace”.

More than 30 people have now died in Channel crossings so far this year, compared with 12 who are thought to have died or were recorded as missing in 2023, according to the French coastguard.

On Wednesday, reporters on a beach in Wimereux, near the site of Tuesday’s incident, described how a large group of migrants were crammed into a small dinghy, many with their legs dangling over the sides.

The boat, filmed by media for more than an hour as it slowly made its journey out to sea as passers-by walking dogs strolled on the beach, is said to have been approached by a patrol boat flying a French flag with a crew member seen tossing more life jackets to the migrants.

Meanwhile, a larger French patrol boat shadowed the dinghy from a distance.

Fishermen who recovered some of the dead on Tuesday said they were moved to tears seeing the bodies of two young women.