Photo credit: The independent
The first small boat migrants to reach Britain this year arrived at Dover yesterday evening in sub-zero conditions.
The Daily Mail reports that the UK Border Force catamaran Hurricane arrived with an unknown number of migrants.
Although they were thought to be several dozen, the figure was yet to be confirmed by the Home Office.
The dinghy’s occupants had earlier been picked up mid-Channel after a lengthy crossing from northern France.
Last year, 41,472 migrants arrived, the second-highest ever.
The yearly total was 13 per cent higher than the figure for 2024, when 36,816 migrants made the journey, and 41 per cent higher than 2023’s total of 29,437.
The Met Office forecast occasional sleet across the Dover Strait, and a temperature of 1 °C, feeling like -3 °C, in the Kent town amid weather warnings in place across the country.
French officials said two other groups of migrants were earlier returned to France after their attempts failed.
