Dozens of migrants cross the Channel in hazy conditions

Dozens of migrants cross the Channel in hazy conditions as number of small boat arrivals this year edges towards 7,500

• A total of 1,351 asylum seekers have arrived in the UK in May alone 

Dozens of migrants have been seen crossing the English Channel by small boat today despite hazy conditions at sea after four days of no confirmed crossings. 

Around 50 people – including at least two women – were seen being brought into the harbour in Dover, Kent on Border Force cutter Defender this morning.

And Border Force catamaran Volunteer was seen returning to the port with more migrants on board shortly after 10am edging the yearly tally closer to 7,500 – after it surpassed 7,000 last week.

While visibility in the Channel is relatively low today due to haze, people smugglers appear to be taking advantage of the dry and calm conditions at sea – with temperatures of 13°C and low winds of around 8mph.

But wind speed is set to pick up as the day progresses – potentially putting a halt to further crossings.

Around 50 asylum seekers – including at least two women – were seen being brought into Dover today

A total of 1,351  asylum seekers have arrived in the UK in May alone

The Government is yet to confirm the number of crossings for Wednesday (May 24), but according to official Home Office figures, 7,297 people have made the treacherous journey in 172 boats so far in 2023 – an average of 42 migrants per vessel.

A total of 1,351 of these asylum seekers have arrived in the UK in May alone.

The busiest day so far this year came on April 22 when 497 people crossed the 21-mile Dover Straits in inflatable dinghies or other small craft over a 24-hour period.

At this point in 2022, 9,296 migrants had already crossed the Channel – almost 2,000 more than the rolling total for 2023.

Last year saw a record total of 45,755 migrants detected arriving by small boats – 60 per cent higher than the previous year when 28,526 migrants arrived in the UK.

More than half (51 per cent) of those people reached Britain in the three months of August, September and October.

In fact, August saw 8,631 asylum seekers arrive on the Kent coast – the highest number of any month since data has been collected.

Males represented 87 per cent of small boat arrivals in 2022 and almost half of the migrants who crossed the Channel were either Albanian (28 per cent) or Afghan (20 per cent).

Officials have warned that as many as 80,000 migrants could cross the Channel by small boat this year.

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