More migrants have crossed the English Channel in small boats so far this year than in the whole of 2023, Home Office figures show.
It comes after 424 people crossed the Channel on Friday, taking the 2024 total up to now to 29,578.
In 2023, a total of 29,437 migrants made the perilous journey from France to the UK.
By comparison, in 2022, 45,791 people crossed the waters.
On Thursday, the French coastguard said it rescued 76 migrants in three boats after they got into difficulty while attempting the crossing.
They were taken back to Calais but several others on two boats refused assistance.
Earlier this week, three people died and dozens of others were rescued when a boat sank while trying to reach the UK.
It has also been a week since a baby girl died in a similar incident. Maryam Bahez was thought to have been born on her family’s journey from Iraqi Kurdistan, as they travelled through Europe in the hope of making it to Britain.
Maryam was just 40 days old when her family wrapped her in a bin bag to keep her dry but she died after the dinghy sank just 100m into their journey.
Maryam Bahez died in the English Channel
Her heartbroken father has said that despite the horror they have been through, he will continue to try to get his wife and two surviving children into Britain.
The waters, known as the Dover Strait, are some of the most dangerous to try and cross with the narrowest part – the English Channel – the busiest shipping lane in the world.
Issuing a warning, the French Coastguard said more than 600 ships pass through it every day, with weather conditions extremely dangerous, even when the water seems calm.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “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.”
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A Labour spokesperson said: “We inherited a disastrous situation with a record number of small boat crossings in the first half of the year.
“Since then, numbers have largely stabilised and we have stepped up enforcement activity with our new Border Security Command, recruiting 100 new investigators to go after the criminal smuggling gangs making millions in profit from these dangerous crossings.”
The command, which aims to tackle organised immigration crime and disrupt trafficking networks across Europe, was set up by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper after Labour took office in July.
