Record 230 migrants cross English Channel on single “mega dinghy”

The weekend’s crossings come after a five-day pause in Channel arrivals, with calmer conditions providing a fresh opportunity for people smugglers to launch boats from the French coast.

This morning’s crossing made it the largest single vessel to attempt to cross the Channel carrying migrants, breaking the previous record of 165.

The dinghy can hold roughly the same number as a Boeing 737 jumbo jet.

Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage said: "This is a record number in a single vessel. It’s yet more proof that this illegal invasion is a national security emergency."

GB News has contacted the Home Office for comment.

Last week, a "mega dinghy" capsized in the English Channel after its engine caught fire. French authorities said 173 people were rescued by French vessels, helped by two British Border Security Command boats and an RNLI lifeboat.

The dinghy, which left the beach at Veules-les-Roses, near Dieppe, on Monday night, caught fire in the French search and rescue region on Tuesday morning, the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency said.

A total of 63 migrants were taken to France on the British vessels, with the Home Office confirming there wre no reported fatalities.

Their French counterparts said 11 people suffered minor injuries, with three taken to hospital.

Reacting to the incident, a Reform UK spokesman said: "This incident proves that Reform UK’s Operation Fortress plan is workable and that British vessels are able to take Channel migrants back to France without violating maritime or international law as part of a humanitarian mission.

"It also confirms that these crossings on overcrowded, dangerous dinghies are a humanitarian disaster waiting to happen and must be stopped immediately."

Justice Secretary Alex Norris, who previously served as the border security minister, told reporters: "It’s a very visible reminder both of the dangerous nature of those crossings and of the blind indifference that human traffickers have for life on those boats.

"I’m pleased with the work that we’re doing with France. We are seeing some positive steps forward.

"But we’ve got to keep doing that work to dissuade people from making those dangerous crossings, and that’s what we’re doing.”