More migrants have arrived in Kent after crossing the English Channel – a week after several are feared to have been lost at sea while attempting the journey.
Among the large numbers of people seen being brought ashore in Dover on Monday was a young girl clutching the hand of a man as she was led away from the water.
During what witnesses described as a steady stream of arrivals – amid relatively calm and sunny conditions at sea – staff were spotted carrying away a brightly coloured dinghy, decorated with a tropical-style scene featuring images of parrots and flamingos.
Since the start of the year, almost 20,000 people have reached the UK after navigating busy shipping lanes from France in small boats, according to data compiled by the PA news agency. This is more than double the total for the whole of 2020.
Last week, Home Secretary Priti Patel described an incident in which as many as three people are thought to be unaccounted for after trying to cross from France to the UK in a dinghy as “appalling” and an “absolute tragedy”.
Two men – both Somali nationals – were rescued off the Essex coast near Harwich on October 25 and searches for any possible remaining survivors have now been called off.
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