Nearly 500 migrants cross the Channel in a single day after a ten-day gap in crossings


Nearly 500 migrants crossed the Channel on Thursday when seven boats landed 494 people at the Border Security Command compound in Dover wearing lifejackets, ending a ten-day lull that had begun on August 17. Crossings continued into Friday even as heavy thunderstorms and strengthening winds turned Channel conditions treacherous.
Around 16,500 migrants have now crossed the Channel this year, though that is down 43% on the same point last year.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood insisted she would not be 'complacent' despite the falling numbers, pledging more enforcement on French beaches.
People smuggling gangs launched boats into a deteriorating Channel, with 87 migrants counted disembarking from one Border Force vessel alone at Dover's Western Jet Foil dock.
