Dozens more migrants arrive in UK as deadly Channel crossings start again after five including a child died trying to make the trip
- Dozens of migrants intercepted crossing the Channel coming from France today
Dozens of migrants have been intercepted crossing the English Channel today - the first day of arrivals since five people died attempting the journey on Tuesday.
Mainly male migrants aboard an inflatable dinghy were spotted being brought ashore at the Port of Dover by a Border Force vessel after being intercepted in the strait.
Wearing orange life jackets, they were marshalled off the boat and then were taken into the immigration processing centre in the former cruise terminal on the Kent coast.
The arrivals are the first since Tuesday, when 402 migrants aboard seven boats arrived.
Nearly 121,000 migrants have now been intercepted crossing the English Channel in small boats in the more than six years, according to the official data.
Migrants board a small boat in an attempt to cross the English Channel, on the beach of Gravelines, near Dunkirk, northern France on April 26
Migrants wade in the water to board a small boat to cross the Channel from Gravelines
A migrant reacts as a French police officer stands by ready to puncture the boat with a knife to prevent migrants from embarking in an attempt to cross the English Channel
A total of 120,993 people have made the dangerous crossing since the start of 2018 when records began.
The latest figures show that 6,667 migrants have crossed the Channel on small boats so far this year which is broadly similar to the numbers last year and 2022.
Elsewhere, photos from today show migrants boarding an inflatable dinghy in an attempt to cross the English Channel, on the beach of Gravelines, near Dunkirk, northern France.
The waded through the waves off the coast and onto the boat and some were confronted by French police officers.
The officers were ready to puncture the boat to prevent the crossing and one photo shows two making off with the dinghy's outboard motor.
Other photos show migrants being chased by French police while attempting to board a boat to cross the Channel.
This comes as two 22-year-old men were today charged with immigration offences as part of an investigation into the deaths of five migrants, including a child, who died trying to cross the English Channel, the National Crime Agency have said.
Yien Both, a 22-year-old from South Sudan, has been charged with assisting unlawful immigration and attempting to arrive in the UK without valid entry clearance.
Tajdeen Adbulaziz Juma, a 22-year-old Sudanese national, has been charged with attempting to arrive in the UK without valid entry clearance.
Both men have been remanded in custody and are expected to appear before Folkestone Magistrates' Court later today.
A third man, an 18-year-old from Sudan, has been bailed pending further inquiries.
A migrant reacts as she is chased by French police while attempting to board a boat in an attempt to cross the English Channel
French Police officers carry the outboard engine from a small boat after migrants failed an attempt to cross the English Channel today
A dinghy of migrants pictured today in French waters escorted by the French Border Patrol
The five people who died were onboard a vessel designed for a maximum of 20 people on Tuesday. They include a girl who was six, a woman in her 30s and three men.
However, after the dinghy was overrun by 50 men from sub-Saharan Africa minutes before it was due to set off from France, they were crushed to death.
The boat had 112 people on board when it left from France with 402 migrants crossing the Channel in a total of seven boats that day.
It also comes Rishi Sunak's Rwanda Bill has become law after weeks of parliamentary deadlock, paving the way for deportation flights to get off the ground.
The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill became an Act of Parliament after being granted royal assent, the Lord Speaker told the House of Lords on Thursday.
The accompanying treaty the UK has signed with the east African nation has also been ratified, the Home Office confirmed later in the afternoon.
Home Secretary James Cleverly insisted spending money on the Rwanda scheme was 'absolutely worth it' and the Government would 'keep those flights going until we stop the boats'.
Mr Cleverly said managing borders 'has never come for free' and told those wanting to delay the plan that there is 'nothing moral about allowing people to drown in the sea at the hands of criminals' as he vowed to emulate Italian efforts to tackle migrant crossings.
