Four Boats Carrying 39 Migrants Arrived in UK Within Three Hours of Each Other
Terri-Ann Williams, Daily Mail, November 18, 2019
Four boats carrying 39 migrants made it into Britain yesterday, as the total number of arrivals this month soared to 129.
The migrants presented themselves as Iranian nationals after they were intercepted attempting to cross the English Channel.
Officials were first alerted to a vessel carrying nine people at 4.30am on Sunday morning near Dover.
At 6am Border Force officials made a second interception and a vessel carrying five people was also found.
Just an hour later a further two boats were intercepted, one at 7am, carrying 11 people and one at 7.30am carrying 14.
Photos from the scene show the migrants being led away by Border Control Officials.
One of the migrants was wearing a ‘Morocco’ hooded jacket, while others looked as though they were wearing waterproof clothing.
Another was also seen wearing an orange inflatable life jacket.
In a statement, a Home Office spokesperson said:’Border Force dealt with four incidents on November 17 after being alerted to small boats travelling across the Channel towards the UK.
‘The people from all boats were taken to Dover, where they were medically assessed before being interviewed by immigration officials.
‘Crossing the Channel in a small boat is incredibly dangerous. Anyone attempting the journey is taking a huge risk with their life and the lives of their loved ones.’
This month’s figures are higher that last November. In November 2018 it was reported that 110 migrants had tried to cross the Channel.
This is while in September this year, a record 86 migrants tried to cross the Channel in a single day.
At the beginning of this year, both the UK and France signed a joint action plan to tackle small boat crossings into Kent.
The government said it would allocate millions of pounds for more security equipment such as CCTV, night vision goggles and number plate recognition to help border officials.
This is while additional cameras were also installed in French ports and areas where migrants may attempt to embark boats.
Many migrants have tried to cross the English Channel in recent years with some landing in Kingsdown near Deal, Folkestone and Romney Marsh.
