A woman died attempting to cross the English Channel over the weekend as migrant crossings from France hit another record high.
The French coast guard rescued 34 migrants after a “heavily loaded” boat got into difficulty overnight on Saturday into Sunday.
The woman could not be saved.
It comes as the latest figures show there had been a record number of crossings for the first seven months of a calendar year.
According to the Home Office, 255 migrants made the journey on Sunday, taking the provisional total for the year to 16,457.
The previous record for arrivals in the seven months from January to July was 16,420 in 2022, with 14,732 making the journey in the same period last year.
Migrants Waded Into Water
Footage captured by the PA news agency showed a group travelling on a black dinghy before reaching the sea, where dozens of migrants waded into the water at Gravelines and pulled themselves onto a crowded boat.Men, women and young children, some in life jackets, were seen appearing from sand dunes and walking across the beach.
Some youngsters were carried on others shoulders, but families turned back from the sea as others walked out into the water to be picked up by the inflatable boat.
Police patrolled the beach and seemed to approach families before they turned away.
Volunteers from refugee charity Utopia 56 were also at the scene and told the PA news agency they deal with emergencies, check the boats at sea are not in trouble, distribute clothes and monitor how police engage with migrants on the beaches.
Volunteer Pablo Eymard-Picollec said of the families who turned back: “I think a few police officers talked to them and told them to stay on the beach.
“As you can see on the boat, it was really, really crowded, so I think they assumed it was too risky for them to go, but we have to speak with them to know for sure the reason they didn’t go today.”
Another Utopia 56 volunteer said they believe it is more dangerous now as the police have militarised the border.
“More and more people are coming in one boat because there is less chance for them to try,” they said.
“So there are more people now in one boat than before, there is more risk and things like yesterday.”
The charity patrol group said they saw four boats leaving the French coastline on Monday morning.
France ‘Complicit’ in Crossings Claims MP
On Monday during Home Office questions, Reform UK’s Lee Anderson accused the French of being “complicit” in small boat crossings.The MP for Ashfield told the Commons: “Six boats came over the Channel on Saturday, there’s been reports of another four today—that’s over 500 illegal migrants being escorted into our waters by the French authorities.
“Does the home secretary agree with me it’s time now to stop paying the French any more money until they stop being complicit in this evil trade?”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “These boat crossings are extremely dangerous and a woman died in the Channel again yesterday, and criminal gangs are deliberately cramming boats to maximise their profits, and they have been getting away with it for far too long.
“That is why we need a new border security command in place, but it is also why we need to work not simply with the French police but also with police forces and organisations right across Europe, and beyond, in order to pursue the gangs and to prevent the boats reaching the French coast in the first place.”
