Border Force seizes yacht as migrants cross the Channel

Border Force officials have intercepted a suspected stolen yacht as migrants continue to cross the Channel in small boats.

The Border Force vessel Hurricane was seen towing a single-masted yacht into Dover on Saturday before securing it in the harbour.

The sighting was unusual, given that migrants tended to attempt to cross the Channel in small dinghies.

The border force vessel also brought an unknown number of migrants into Dover, on a day when those attempting the crossing were believed to number in the low hundreds.

Some 1,157 people have been rescued from the Channel since Monday after setting out in small boats, while two have died making the crossing in the same period.

Another four people died in the Channel in the previous week, when a spell of good weather increased the number of crossings.

Home Office figures show 413 crossed the Channel in seven small boats on Friday, bringing the total for the year so far to 15,489.

This is about 10 per cent higher than the number of crossings seen for the same time last year and 0.1 per cent more than the number for the same period in 2022, the year with the most crossings on record.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We all want to see an end to dangerous small boat crossings, which are undermining border security and putting lives at risk.

“The new Government is taking steps to boost our border security, setting up a new border security command which will bring together our intelligence and enforcement agencies, equipped with new counter-terror-style powers and hundreds of personnel stationed in the UK and overseas, to smash the criminal smuggling gangs making millions in profit.”