Migrant small boats cross The Channel on record breaking day

Records were set last week for the number of small boats crossing the Channel as good weather prompted traffickers to send more than 700 migrants to England in a single day. 

The figure is among the highest recorded and adds to the 100,000 people who have the dangerous trip since 2018.

Amid the chaos, which culminated in several people falling overboard from a dinghy and a lifeguard drone crashing into the sea, Express.co.uk had a reporter on a fishing boat watching the record day unfold. 

He was able to capture exclusive video footage of migrant boats, French warships and UK rescue operations for a short documentary which can be watched on the YouTube video box below.

It provides a powerful firsthand account of how dangerously overcrowded migrant vessels are, showing how men women and children packed together at seven times the numbers meant for the inflatables. 

READ MORE ‘I saw the terrifying chaos of small boats crossing the Channel up close’

https://www.youtube.com/embed/_82ua90BGeQ

The disorder caused to other ships on the Channel by the presence of small boats and the way the French authorities’ actions could be considered facilitating trafficking is also captured.

Expert commentary on the events was provided by Chartered Skipper Matt Coker, an experienced captain of a fishing vessel who took our journalist out to sea. 

He pointed out the extraordinary courses being taken by French warships escorting small boats close to England’s shores and revealed how UK rescue services were being stretched to the limit by dinghies crossing the Channel.

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Tragically, the dangerous situation Express.co.uk documented resulted only days later in the deaths of six migrants crossing the Channel. 

It came at the end of Rishi Sunak’s Government’s “small boats week” where a series of announcements on the issue were publicised.

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