See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy DAVID BARRETT, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR Published: 14:04 BST, 19 June 2026 | Updated: 15:49 BST, 19 June 2026
More than 1,100 small boat migrants have reached Britain in just four days, with more on the way, as people traffickers exploit the heatwave.There were 392 arrivals on Thursday, official Home Office figures confirmed, in addition to 710 on Monday.It brought the four-day tally to 1,102 and pushed this year’s total so far past the 10,000 mark.Further dinghy departures carrying several hundred more migrants were seen from the beaches at Wissant, south-west of Calais, earlier on Friday.The total is expected to soar even higher over the weekend and throughout most of next week, as calm winds persist.It means the UK could be braced for one of the most sustained periods of small boat arrivals so far this year.French police officers stood by and watched some of Friday’s departures from the beach at Wissant, with some filming migrants on their mobile phones.There were distressing scenes as migrants risked their lives to clamber aboard dangerously-overloaded dinghies. One woman became distressed as she attempted to reach an overloaded dinghy bound for the UK, pictured off the coast of Wissant, near Calais, early on Friday morning Migrants struggle to board a traffickers' dinghy bound for Britain early on Friday, at Wissant beach, south-west of CalaisIt came despite a recent shift in tactics by French police in the wake of a new, £660million three-year deal for beach patrols to be funded by the British taxpayer, which was agreed in April.After years of lobbying by successive UK governments the French have begun intercepting some traffickers’ ‘taxi boats’ – but not all - while they are already in the water. French officers stood by as migrants set off aboard dinghies to the UK from Wissant beach, near Calais, on Friday morning Migrants struggle to board one of the overloaded dinghies setting off for the UK from Wissant beach, near Calais, on Friday morningLast month French police were reported to their country’s human rights watchdog after using a knife to deflate a small boat packed with migrants bound for England.Dramatic scenes filmed at Oye-Plage, a beach near Calais, on May 3 showed an officer slashing at an inflatable before it collapses.About 25 young men were forced off the craft and retreated back onto the beach. Migrants on the overloaded dinghies included infants and children Migrants carry an inflatable boat into the sea at the beach at Wissant while attempting to cross the English Channel Migrants arrived at Wissant beach, south-west of Calais, at dawn in an attempt to board smugglers' dinghies to BritainOfficers who sprinted up to the dinghy were seen wading into shin-depth water but it was unclear from the video whether it was actually afloat.A spokesman for the Pas-de-Calais gendarmerie said the vessel was actually grounded at the time.
