Hundreds more illegal migrants have crossed the Channel to the UK on Good Friday, sending a record week's number of arrivals even higher.
Just before 9pm, the Border Force vessel Ranger arrived in Dover with 113 migrants on board - following 138 who made the illegal journey to the UK earlier in the day.
That takes the total for the past week to 2,122 for the past week, while for the year so far, 9,350 have now crossed from France.
The total is 43 per cent ahead of the number who arrived at this point last year.
The cause of death is not yet known. Coastguard personnel removed the body of the migrant on a stretcher and took it to a nearby forensics tent next to the RNLI station at Dover harbour.
More than 2,000 migrants have arrived in UK in record week for crossings
GB News
Another 51 migrants were taken off the Typhoon by Border Force personnel and taken to the nearby migrant processing centre.
Today’s arrivals follow 211 who made the illegal crossing the day before.
On Tuesday this week, 705 migrants in 12 boats were brought to Dover in the single biggest day of crossings so far this year.
It followed the previous one-day record of 656 migrants in 11 small boats, reached just three days before that.
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Border Force vessel arrives in Dover
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Earlier today, GB News provisional figures showed a total of 2,009 people had crossed from France, bringing the cumulative number of arrivals in 2025 to 9,237.
That number was around 42 per cent higher than at the same point last year - and a huge 81 per cent higher than at the same stage in 2023.
More arrivals have been recorded in January to April in 2025 than in the equivalent four-month period in any year since the small boat crisis began in 2018.
The latest crossings mark a record week for crossings
GB News
The figures mark a major blow for the Prime Minister's policy of smashing the criminal gangs.
Sir Keir Starmer scrapped the previous Government's plan to send Channel migrants off to Rwanda for processing.
Instead, the Labour Government has diverted millions from the Rwanda scheme into a new Border Security Command.
The Home said the Government was focused on intensifying collaboration with France and other countries to dismantle the business model of the gangs and introduce tougher enforcement powers.
The Government is understood to be examining a possible deal to introduce a partial migrant return with France.
Reports have suggested that where a migrant is sent to France, the UK could accept an individual from France who has a right to be in Britain, including those with a legitimate case for family reunification.
A Home Office spokesman said: "We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, threaten lives and undermine our border security.
"That's with this government is investing in border security, increasing returns to their highest levels for more than half a decade, and imposing a major crackdown on illegal working to end the false promise of jobs, used by gangs to sell spaces on boats."
