Nearly 500 migrants arrive in UK in nine small boats as perilous Channel crossings continue

Nine small boats made it to the UK on Saturday despite four fatalities last weekend – including a two-year-old child

A group of people thought to be migrants arriving at Dover, on the Kent coast (PA Wire)

Nearly 500 migrants made the perilous journey across the Channel to the UK in small boats on Saturday – a week after a two-year-old child was among four killed.

A total of 471 people arrived in nine boats on 12 October, following 142 in two boats on Friday, according to Home Office figures.

The arrivals come after four were killed attempting to reach Britain this time last week, including a two-year-old who was said to have been “trampled to death” in a boat in the English Channel.

Jacques Billant, the Prefect of Pas-de-Calais region, confirmed the deaths has taken place in “two tragedies” on 5 October.

In one incident, the French coastguard responded to a boat carrying nearly 90 people on board which was suffering engine failure. A total of 15 people were recovered from onboard to a tow vessel called l’Abeille, including the boy who was unconscious. Despite a medical team being scrambled by helicopter, he was then declared dead.

Border Force officers investigate boats thought to be used by migrants on the dockside in Dover, Kent (Gareth Fuller/PA)

In the second incident, a boat with 83 people on board which had sailed from the Calais area suffered several engine failures which caused panic, leading to some of the occupants falling into the sea.

Although those who fell overboard were all rescued, Mr Billant said that when migrants were transferred from the inflatable boat to the Flamant – a French navy patrol boat – three people were found unconscious at the bottom of the vessel.

He said that they were “probably crushed and suffocated during the jostling and drowned in the 40 centimetres of water present in the boat”.

The fatal incidents came on the same day as 973 migrants crossed in 17 small boats, the biggest daily number this year.

The latest arrivals bring the total numbers so far this year to 27,225 – which is a 5 per cent increase on the same time last year but 25 per cent less than 2022, when 36,491 had arrived by 12 October.

Cumulative arrivals of people crossing the English Channel in small boats until 5 October (PA Wire)

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

“As we have seen with so many recent devastating tragedies in the Channel, the people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay.

“We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.

“We are making progress, bolstering our personnel numbers in the UK and abroad.

“Our new Border Security Command will strengthen our global partnerships and enhance our efforts to investigate, arrest, and prosecute these evil criminals.”