More than 50 migrants rescued in Channel as bodies found at sea

More than 50 migrants have been rescued in the English Channel while several bodies were found floating at sea.

The French coastguard said 51 people were rescued after a boat got into difficulty when its engine failed off the coast of Audresselles, northern France, overnight on Monday into Tuesday.

The group was met by emergency services at Boulogne-sur-Mer quayside and taken to safety.

Meanwhile a ferry reported seeing a body adrift off the coast of Calais on Tuesday, prompting a search by a French patrol boat which led to the discovery of two bodies.

On Wednesday, two more people were found lifeless in the water off the coast of Calais, the French coastguard said.

All four bodies were brought ashore and the Boulogne-sur-Mer public prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation.

French authorities are yet to confirm whether the people who died were migrants.

It is so far unknown if the man was a migrant but an investigation is trying to establish the circumstances.

Another body was also found on a beach in Calais on Wednesday, according to unconfirmed French media reports.

It comes as newly appointed shadow home secretary Chris Philp criticised the Government’s efforts to tackle Channel crossings since Labour came to power as figures showed more than 31,000 migrants have arrived in UK so far this year.

According to the Home Office, 263 people made the journey in four boats on Wednesday, taking the provisional total for 2024 to date to 31,535.

This is up 18% on this time last year (26,699) but down 21% on 2022 (39,929), a record high year for crossings.

Some 50 people have died while trying to cross the Channel this year, according to incidents recorded by the French coastguard.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has also reported 11 more migrant deaths believed to be linked to crossing attempts so far in 2024.

The latest incidents are yet to be recorded in the figures.

Refugee charities have warned deaths in the Channel have become “appallingly regular” and repeatedly called for safe, alternative routes of passage to be established to stop more fatalities during the perilous crossing.

In the Commons on Wednesday, Mr Philp lashed out at ministers for scrapping the previous government’s plan to send migrants to Rwanda “before it had even started”.

“The first flight was due to take off, I believe from memory, on the 24th of July, but they cancelled it.

Citing comments made by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, he also urged the Government to “urgently implement offshore processing”, adding: “Because of their failings, Labour is breaking their manifesto pledge to end hotel use” as he called for a pledge to not open any more hotels to house asylum seekers.

Border security and asylum minister Dame Angela Eagle replied: “On Rwanda, from when it began to when we scrapped it, during that period, 83,500 people crossed in small boats.

“If that’s a deterrent then I think (Chris Philp) has got a peculiar view of what the meaning of deterrence is in the English language.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has so far not committed to a target or timeframe for curbing Channel crossings but pledged the Government would “try and make progress as rapidly as possible”.

Meanwhile Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer vowed the Government would “treat people smugglers like terrorists” as he announced an extra £75 million for his border security command during a speech at the Interpol general assembly in Glasgow on Monday.

The next day the ringleader of a “prolific” people smuggling gang thought to be behind 10,000 Channel crossings was jailed for 15 years in a French court, with 17 other members of the network also convicted.

The group was prosecuted in the wake of a 2022 police operation across Europe which led to dozens of arrests in Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands, with more than 100 boats, 1,000 life jackets, engines and cash being seized.