The rescues are currently ongoing and involve up to 10 separate incidents. It follows the interception of at least 10 small boats in the Channel earlier this morning. The Dover lifeboat was called around 11am to reports of a migrant boat in difficulties near Folkestone. A group of people onboard a small boat have been picked up and the Dover lifeboat is now responding to another incident near Ramsgate The Dungeness lifeboat was also called out around 11am to reports of a small boat incident around 4 miles off shore.
The Walmer and Ramsgate lifeboats are also currently responding to two separate incidents. A local source in Dover said that today was “shaping up to be another significant day of migrant activity in the Channel.” It follows a wave of 16 small boats, which were intercepted by Border Force and lifeboats in British waters yesterday. More than 500 people were brought ashore. French authorities also prevented 307 people in eight boats from making the crossing. On Monday, French officials reported a local fishing boat found the body of a suspected migrant floating a few miles from the French coast. It brings the official tally of migrants who have died on the French side of the channel to five in the past week. Dan O’Mahoney, the Border Force commander in charge of UK efforts to tackle the small boat crisis said: “These journeys are dangerous and facilitated by violent criminal gangs profiting from misery’ “We are working with the French to stop boats leaving their beaches and crack down on the criminals driving these crossings.”
