16 August 2023 , 20:36
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Children were among 50 asylum seekers to land safely after a hellish Channel crossing yesterday.
Some huddled under blankets while others clung to their rescuers after being brought ashore by the RNLI. The children, one in bare feet, were embraced by a man thought to have travelled with them to Dungeness, Kent. It comes after six migrants died when a small boat sank off France on Saturday.
Some 59 people – many of them Afghans – were rescued by coastguards when their overloaded vessel capsized. More than 16,700 people have crossed the Channel so far this year, with the total since 2018 topping 100,000 this month.
At a vigil in Folkestone, Kent, marking Saturday’s tragedy, Labour councillor Bridget Chapman said: ““The fact is, we could stop this overnight if the government was to offer safe routes for people. That would break the business model of the people traffickers overnight.
Kids embraced by man in Dungeness (PA)“But they refuse to do that and we’re here to say, you say you’re doing it in the name of coastal communities like ours, it’s not what we want.” Lifeboat crews saved 108 migrants’ lives in 2022, the RNLI said. PM Rishi Sunak has defended the decision to put migrants on the Bibby Stockholm barge despite a Legionella bacteria outbreak.
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A Home Office spokesperson said the “unacceptable number of people” making crossings “is placing an unprecedented strain on our asylum system” and that stopping boats is a priority. They added: “The government is going even further through our Illegal Migration Act which will mean that people arriving in the UK illegally are detained and promptly removed to their country of origin or a safe third country.”