More than 970 migrants cross Channel - the highest daily number this year

A total of 973 migrants in 17 small boats crossed the English Channel to the UK on Saturday - the highest daily number this year.

The figure surpassed the previous record for 2024 - which was 882 people on 18 June.

The arrivals bring the total for the year to 26,612 compared to 25,330 by the same date last year and 33,611 in 2022.

It comes as French authorities said four people died while attempting to cross the Channel on Saturday - including a two-year-old boy who was "trampled to death".

Jacques Billant, prefect of Pas-de-Calais region, said the French coastguard had responded to a boat carrying almost 90 people which suffered engine failure.

Fifteen people were transferred to a tow vessel, including the boy, who was unconscious.

A medical team was sent by helicopter, but he was pronounced dead.

He was "trampled to death", according to French interior minister Bruno Retailleau on X.

Mr Billant said that the other 14 migrants, including a 17-year-old who suffered burns to his legs, were taken to the port of Boulogne to receive care before being questioned by police.

The rest of the occupants were allowed to continue their journey to the UK, Mr Billant said.

Mr Retailleau also said: "The people smugglers have the blood of these people on their hands and our government will intensify the fight against these mafias who are getting rich by organising these crossings of death."

Yvette Cooper, the UK home secretary, replied to Mr Retailleau on the social media platform, saying it was "appalling" that more lives had been lost in the Channel, "including a young child".

"Criminal smuggler gangs" do not care "if people live or die", she added.

Ms Cooper has pledged an immediate £75m investment in border security, with funding made available to the National Crime Agency to pay for covert operation equipment to disrupt people smugglers.

In a second incident, a boat with 83 people on board suffered several engine failures which caused panic on board leading to some people falling into the sea who were all rescued.

Three passengers - two men and a woman - were found unconscious at the bottom of the vessel, Mr Billant said. They were "probably crushed and suffocated during the jostling and drowned in the 40cm of water present in the boat".

He added: "Despite the intervention of the doctors, they were declared dead. They are two men and a woman, all three around 30 years old."

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The total number of deaths so far this year is 51, Mr Billant told reporters. The figure for 2023 is reportedly 12.

The migrants rescued on Saturday were from Eritrea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iran, Ethiopia, Libya, Syria, Egypt, Kuwait and Iraq, he added.

This week, the UK and other G7 nations agreed an anti-smuggling action plan designed to boost co-operation on the issue.

The Home Office said this included joint investigations and intelligence-sharing in a bid to target criminal smuggling routes.

(c) Sky News 2024: More than 970 migrants cross Channel - the highest daily number this year