Dozens more migrants rescued from Channel as weather conditions 'ideal' for crossing attempts

Nearly 150 more people have been brought ashore in Dover on Wednesday, June 15. Credit: PA Wire/PA Images

Around 150 more people have been brought ashore in Dover on Wednesday, June 15 as low winds create ideal weather conditions for Channel crossing attempts.

So far, approximately 146 people including around 28 children have been rescued from small boats in the Channel and brought in to the Kent port.

Border Force ships Typhoon and Vigilant have brought rescued migrants into Dover, where they are then put on buses and sent to processing centres.

However, Border Force and RNLI ship activity suggests there may have been further rescues bringing migrants into Ramsgate or Dungeness.

A small boat used by a group of people thought to be migrants is brought in to Dover, Kent Credit: PA

With crossings going on well into the night on Tuesday, June 14, it is likely there are more crossings to come and this number will increase when the Ministry of Defence releases the official figures on Thursday, June 16.

The majority of people brought ashore in Dover on Wednesday were men aged from their late teens to their 30s or 40s but there were also a number of women and young children.

Two boats used to attempt the crossing were brought into Dover Harbour, both appearing in poor condition and partially deflated.

One of the boats contained two children’s inflatable rubber rings as well as lifejackets.

People carried their belongings in bin bags to shore, although some had suitcases which were brought by officers.

UK considering leaving human rights convention to force Rwanda deportations
Children brought to shore as number of channel crossings exceed 9,000 this year

The countries of origin of the people coming ashore in Dover included Afghanistan, Iraq and Egypt.

It comes as the Home Secretary has said she is "committed" to a policy of sending asylum seekers more than 4,000 miles away to Rwanda, after a last minute decision in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) blocked last night's planned deportation flight.

The Rwanda flight had up to 7 people on board by Tuesday evening, but all passengers had their tickets cancelled.

Priti Patel said she welcomed decisions made in the UK's domestic courts to remove migrants from the flight, but said it was "disappointing and surprising" to learn of the ECHR's intervention.

The plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda has been criticised by refugee charity Care4Calais, who said people are being treated like "human cargo" as a result.

  • Care4Calais Volunteer, Katie Sweetingham said people are being treated like "human cargo"

Volunteer, Katie Sweetingham, said: "Refugees are already fleeing something terrible and they have their own personal reasons for wanting to be in the UK that won't stop them from coming. It will just further traumatise them.

"It's like treating people like human cargo like it doesn't matter. Saying they can be flown out to Rwanda but if the decision turns out that it is illegal, [saying] that they can just be flown back again.

"It's not really accounting for the distress, the immense distress that this causes people."

Downing Street said the government will do "whatever it takes" to ensure deportation flights to Rwanda go ahead and "all options are on the table" - including leaving the European Convention on Human Rights.