LONDON, 17 Sep. (DPA/EP) –
More than 600 migrants have arrived in the UK after almost 40 were rescued from the English Channel when their boat sank off the coast of Kent, in the south-east of the country.
The Ministry of Defense has reported that 617 people crossed last Thursday in 14 boats, bringing the annual total to almost 30,000. The figures indicate that there was an average of 44 people per boat in the last recorded trips.
In the latest group of people to reach English soil, 38 had been at sea for nearly an hour when their boat deflated in UK waters at around 6:17 a.m.
After that, the Coast Guard has launched a search and rescue operation, in cooperation with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), the British Royal Navy, the border force and the Police.
By 7:07 am, all the people who had ended up in the water had been rescued. All of them have been evaluated to determine that they were in stable and safe conditions and have been transferred to the city of Dover. No deaths have been reported.
Last month, some authorities said it was remarkable that there had been no “serious” incidents, such as drowning, this year as the average number of passengers per boat had risen to 44 from 28 in 2021.
More than 29,700 people have crossed the English Channel to the United Kingdom this year, according to official data provided by the British Government. This figure exceeds the total for 2021, which was 28,526 people.
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