A boat carrying 230 migrants, the highest number ever recorded on a single vessel, reached the UK coast after crossing the English Channel. The incident comes as the UK government condemned the “reckless and dangerous” tactics of people-smuggling gangs.
The boat departed from the French coast on Sunday evening and arrived off the English coast in the early hours of Monday after being intercepted by UK authorities. The number aboard broke the previous record set last month, when 165 people completed the crossing in a single trip.
According to UK officials, smuggling gangs are increasingly packing more migrants onto each boat. Earlier this month, an inflatable boat carrying 173 people heading for the UK capsized in the Channel after its engine caught fire.
A UK Home Office spokesperson said: “This latest incident shows the reckless and dangerous tactics of criminal gangs organizing these illegal crossings, who continue to put migrants' lives at risk by packing more and more people onto unseaworthy boats.”
“We are making progress, with small boat crossings this year down and the lowest July since 2020. But we need to do more, and that’s why we have signed a returns deal with France to increase patrols on French beaches by 40%.”
Provisional figures show that so far this year, at least 14,819 people have crossed the English Channel from France to the UK, a 43% decrease compared with the period from January to mid-July last year.
