Two Asylum Seekers Die During Attempt to Cross English Channel

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in on a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the English Channel in Dover, England, on Aug. 5, 2024. Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

Two asylum seekers have died in a “tragic incident” trying to cross the English Channel in a small boat, the government has confirmed.

A government spokesperson said on Monday that the fatalities occurred in French waters.

“This latest tragedy underlines the terrible dangers of small boat crossings and we continue to do everything we can to prevent callous criminals exploiting vulnerable people,” the spokesperson said.

This is the latest fatality in the Channel after a woman aboard a “heavily loaded” boat which got into difficulty off the coast of Calais died on July 28.

Another person had died on July 17 after an overcrowded rubber dinghy deflated off the coast of Gravelines on France’s northern coast.

More than 80 people have died trying to make the crossing since 2014.

Record Daily Arrivals

The Home Office also revealed on Monday that 703 illegal immigrants had arrived on English shores on Sunday, the highest number in a single day since Sir Keir Starmer became prime minister after Labour swept to victory on July 4.

Government statistics showed the illegal immigrants arrived in 11 boats in total, averaging around 64 people being crammed on each boat.

The highest number of asylum seekers crossing the Channel so far in 2024 was the 882 people who arrived on June 18, with Sunday’s landings being third-highest this year.

So far 18,342 illegal immigrants have arrived in the UK by boat, 13 percent higher than the total at the same time last year, where there were 16,170 arrivals.

Conservative leadership candidate and former Home Secretary James Cleverly said that since Labour dropped the previous government’s Rwanda plan, “more and more boats are crossing the channel with more and more people in them.”

Cleverly continued: “They’ve sent the wrong signal, throwing the doors open instead of doing what is necessary to stop the dangerous crossings.

“The Government’s phantom border command clearly isn’t working. They need to get a grip and fast, otherwise the numbers will continue to climb.”

A record 45,774 migrants landed in 2022, with the figure falling 36 percent to 29,437 in 2023.

Since the Home Office began keeping separate figures on illegal boat landings in January 2018, a total of 131,492 illegal immigrants have arrived in the UK.

End of Rwanda Plan

The Home Office said in response to the record figures: “We all want to see an end to dangerous small boat crossings, which are undermining border security and putting lives at risk.

“The new Government is taking steps to boost our border security, setting up a new border security command which will bring together our intelligence and enforcement agencies, equipped with new counter-terror-style powers and hundreds of personnel stationed in the UK and overseas, to smash the criminal smuggling gangs making millions in profit.”

Cumulative arrivals of people crossing the English Channel in small boats. PA

The previous Conservative government had sought to tackle illegal immigration with a series of policies including sending asylum seekers who arrived illegally in the UK to Rwanda, which former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Cleverly said would act as a deterrent.

However, due to legal challenges against the measures causing delays to implementing the plans, not one flight took off for the African country with illegal immigrants on board, bar four individuals who went voluntarily.

According to the new home secretary, Yvette Cooper, the scheme cost £700 million.

After winning the election, Starmer scrapped the Rwanda scheme, with the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper establishing the Border Security Command to tackle the small boats crisis.

Cleverly criticised the decision to get rid of the Rwanda plan, saying it removed a deterrent to illegal immigration.

The former home secretary also called the Border Security Demand a “gimmick,” implying that the new organisation was the same as those already in place under the Conservatives, but rebranded.

PA Media contributed to this report.