Migrant crisis: Another death in Channel overnight - as hundreds more make crossing today
The French patrol vessel Cormoran initially offered assistance to those onboard the small boat just off the coast
GB NEWS
Another small boat migrant has died in the English Channel overnight, as hundreds more make the crossing today, GB News can exclusively reveal.
The victim, believed to be a Sudanese woman, drowned after the massively overcrowded boat she was in began sinking in French waters just before 1am.
The French patrol vessel Cormoran initially offered assistance to those onboard the small boat just off the coast, near Calais.
According to French authorities, the vessel was overloaded with 86 people on board.
They initially refused French assistance, but around an hour later, the vessel began deflating and a number of migrants were thrown into the water.
Rescue teams tried to resuscitate the unconscious woman, but she died at the scene.
The French patrol vessel Cormoran initially offered assistance to those onboard the small boat just off the coastGB NEWSShe was the sixth migrant to drown in the English Channel in just seven days.
Last Friday, four people died when their migrant boat got into difficulties near Boulogne.
On Wednesday, another migrant drowned and 71 others were rescued when their boat began sinking off Calais.
GB News can reveal that at least seven small boats have made the crossing so far today.
GB News can confirm that a Border Force vessel arrived in Dover at 2:30am today with around 50 migrants on board
GB NEWS
Sources have said authorities are planning for as many as 500 migrant arrivals in the coming hours.
If that figure is reached, it will mean up to 2,000 migrants have crossed the Channel illegally since the Labour Government came to power just a fortnight ago.
It will also bring the total number of migrants to make the journey so far this year to 15,500. That figure is 13 per cent higher than the numbers crossing at the same point last year.
GB News can confirm that a Border Force vessel arrived in Dover at 2:30am today with around 50 migrants on board.
Throughout Friday morning, another six migrant boats have made it to UK waters.
Although the new government has scrapped the Tory government's Rwanda deterrent scheme, the Prime Minister has signalled he might be prepared to look again at the possibility of the offshore processing of migrants.
At news conference after the European Political Community summit in London on Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer said he would “look at what works” when asked about the agreement between Italy and Albania.
Under that agreement, thousands of migrants picked up in Italian waters will be transported to Albania to have their asylum claims heard there.