More than 600 migrants arrive in the United Kingdom across the English Channel

More than 600 migrants have arrived in the UK after nearly 40 were rescued from the English Channel when their boat sank off the coast of Kent, in the southeast of the country.

The Ministry of Defense has reported that 617 people crossed last Thursday in 14 boats, bringing the annual total to nearly 30,000. The figures indicate that there was an average of 44 people per boat on the latest recorded trips.

In the latest group of people to reach British soil, 38 had been at sea for almost an hour when their boat deflated in UK waters at around 6.17am this morning.

Following this, the Coastguard has launched a search and rescue operation, in cooperation with Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), British Royal Navy, Border Force and Police.

By 7.07 a.m. this morning, all persons who had ended up in the water had been rescued. They have all been assessed to determine that they were in a stable and safe condition and have been transported to Dover town. No deaths have been reported.

Last month, some authorities said it was remarkable that there had been no “serious” incidents, such as drownings, this year while the average number of passengers per vessel had grown to 44, up from 28 in 2021.

More than 29,700 people have crossed the English Channel to the UK this year, according to official data provided by the British government. This figure exceeds the 2021 total of 28,526 people.