Record 711 migrants crossed the Channel yesterday - the highest number on a ... trends now
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Some 711 people were detected crossing the English Channel on Wednesday, the highest number on a single day so far this year, according to provisional figures from the Home Office.
The cumulative number of arrivals by small boats in 2024 now stands at a provisional total of 8,278.
This is 34% higher than the total at the equivalent point last year, which was 6,192, and 19% higher than the total at this stage in 2022, which was 6,945.
Some 14 boats were detected on Wednesday, which suggests an average of around 51 people per boat.
A group of migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent by the RNLI on Tuesday after being picked up
A total of 7,567 people made the journey from January to April, up 25 per cent on 2023
There were 29,437 arrivals across the whole of 2023, down 36% on a record 45,774 arrivals in 2022.
It comes as a migrant boat packed with 66 people on board was rescued off Dieppe trying to cross the Channel - where the stretch of water between France and the UK is at least 65 miles wide.
Men, women and children were on board the vessel when it got into difficulty on Wednesday morning off the coast of the French port.
Dieppe is 70
