More than 800 small boat migrants have crossed the English Channel today, a record day for the year so far.
GB News can exclusively reveal that 828 migrants have arrived in UK waters so far today.
The total smashes the previous one-day record for the year, when 705 migrants made the illegal Journey on April 15.
It takes the total for the year so more to more than 13,300.
Some 828 migrants have arrived in UK waters so far today
GB NEWS
The record arrivals came just hours after two migrants died trying to cross the Channel overnight.
A rescue operation was launched after the pair were crushed in a badly overcrowded boat carrying nearly 80 migrants.
The boat had left the shore at Gravelines when it got into difficulties.
A French Navy boat set out to make contact with the boat to recover the two people and 10 others who needed help.
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The 800 arrivals take the total for the year so more to more than 13,300
PAFirst responders from the vessel performed first aid on the two people, but a medical team later confirmed their deaths.
All those rescued were taken to Calais, while the remaining migrants on the boat continued their journey towards British waters under French Navy surveillance.
The deaths on Wednesday come just days after another migrant was confirmed dead after a small boat sank in the Channel.
The Maritime Prefect of the Channel and the North Sea said on Monday that 62 people were pulled from the water after the "overloaded" boat broke up overnight.
Latest Home Office figures show 49 people in one boat arrived in the UK on Tuesday.
Today's arrivals bring the total to more than 30 per cent ahead of the 9,874 who arrived at this point last year, and 75 per cnet higher than the same point in 2023, when 7,297 had arrived.
Reacting to the latest Channel deaths, the head of campaigns at charity Safe Passage International, Gunes Kalkan, said: “It’s been another devastating week in the Channel, with more people needlessly losing their lives in search of safety.
“These losses can’t be prevented whilst people fleeing war and persecution don’t have safe routes to ask for protection here.
“We need international cooperation with European nations to be focused on providing safe routes and protection, through a refugee visa and expanding family reunion.”
