Migrant boat comes close to landing on Kent beach - two years since last small boat made it ashore

The incident, just off St Margaret's Bay near Dover, is the first time in more than two years that migrants have come near to reaching a UK beach.

It will have alarmed authorities, who put significant resources into ensuring small boats are prevented from coming ashore, after multiple beach landings in the past, where migrants have run off after landing.

The incident unfolded just after 7am on Sunday and caught UK maritime authorities by surprise.

GB News Kent producer said the boat suddenly appeared from a patch of early morning sea fog.

“The migrant boat wasn’t far from St Margaret’s beach at all.” He said.

“There was a fair bit of early morning mist. Then, all of a sudden, the outline of a migrant boat appeared.

“Gave me quite a fright. I haven’t seen a migrant boat this close to shore for more than two years.

“It clearly took Border Force by surprise as well, as they’re normally waiting out in the middle of the Channel to intercept the migrant boats just as they enter UK waters.

“Pretty much all of the migrant boats are escorted through French waters by border and security vessels from France.”

The last time a migrant dinghy is known to have reached a UK beach was in January 2022, when a boat landed along the Kent coast at Walmer.

Dozens of people onboard the boat ran off. Most were captured shortly afterwards.

The incident was the last of multiple beach landings over a two year period, where many migrants ran off.

There was widespread alarm in some Kent coastal communities at the time, with reports of some migrants illegally entering people’s homes and demanding money and transport from locals.

It led the previous Government to call on the support of the military for a while, to help better coordinate operations in the Channel and intercept migrant boats before they could reach the beaches.

The Small Boats Operational Command was established, and technology including drones was used to keep an accurate track of migrant activity in the Channel.

The new Labour administration is replacing the previous structure with a Border Security Command.

But much of the day-to-day operations in the Channel will still largely function as before.

Until today, they’ve been very successful in preventing migrant boats getting close to shore.

The Border Force vessel Typhoon managed to reach the latest migrant boat before it could land on the beach.

Just after the last of the 70 migrants onboard that boat were transferred onto the Typhoon, GB News watched as it raced off to another small boat sighting further into the Channel.

Three hours later, Typhoon arrived in Dover harbour, packed out with two migrant boatloads onboard.

GB News counted as 133 people were taken off Typhoon and led to the Border Force migrant processing centre in Dover.

After almost a week of poor weather in the English Channel, Sunday has given way to much calmer conditions.

It has led to more than 600 migrants to attempt the dangerous crossing from France.

Earlier on Sunday morning, two migrants drowned when their boat got into difficulties seven miles from Calais.

At least eight other boats have made it into UK waters, carrying as many as 600 migrants.