Migrant dies trying to cross Channel on a TYRE as nearly 120 others make it to Britain today

A migrant has died in a bizarre attempt to cross the Channel on a tyre inner tube this morning.

French emergency services were called to reports of migrants attempting to launch the tyre into the water in the Pas-de-Calais.

When rescue boats arrived at the scene they found two people in the water, one in cardiac arrest, the other suffering from hypothermia.

Both migrants were taken to awaiting rescue services onshore at Boulogne.

But despite efforts to save the migrant in cardiac arrest, they were pronounced dead at the scene.

The latest tragedy comes as almost 120 migrants crossed the Channel into UK waters on Wednesday.

Maritime authorities are responding to a further three small boats, currently still in French waters and making steady progress towards the UK.

Today’s arrivals are the first for more than a week, since almost 2,300 small boat migrants crossed in the space of just 10 days.

French authorities responded to several incidents overnight as people smugglers took advantage of a break in the bad weather to launch multiple small boats.

French authorities have had to respond to increasing numbers of migrant boats being dangerously overcrowded.

Most migrant boats routinely carry around 60 migrants.

But increasing numbers of small boats are putting to sea with numbers as high as 100 onboard.

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One maritime security source said the problem stems mainly from African migrants, who either do not want to pay people smuggling gangs, or do not have the money to pay them.

He told GB News: “For more than a year now, we’ve seen increasingly brazen groups ofmainly African migrants, rushing the boats as they’re being launched from French beaches.

“They’ve not paid for their journey but just force their way on through brute force.

“It can be a pretty violent process; we’ve seen stabbings and broken bones on a regular basis.

“These boats are already crammed with around 60 people on board. But add to that another 30 or 40 scrambling onboard, it’s easy to see why we’re seeing so many incidents of people either falling overboard or being crushed to death.”

Today, the Border Force Vessel Typhoon arrived at Dover Harbour just after 9am with the first group of 65 migrants on board.

That was followed by the Border Force vessel Ranger two hours later, with 53 mainly young men taken to the nearby migrant processing centre.

Today’s arrivals so far have taken the total number who have crossed from France since the beginning of the year to almost 4,500.

That total has plunged the Labour government’s border security policy into deeper crisis, as the numbers crossing the Channel continue to hit record levels, despite the Prime Minister’s promise to smash the gangs.

There are growing calls on the government to introduce a deterrent scheme, similar to the previous government’s Rwanda policy.

The Rwanda scheme was scrapped by Sir Keir Starmer on his first day in office.

The Prime Minister branded it “a gimmick” and instead announced the introduction of a new Border Security Command.

The new command has been given millions of pounds of extra funding, diverted from the Rwanda scheme.

However, eight months on, the number of migrants crossing the Channel appears on course to overtake the more than 36,800 who crossed last year.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.

“The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay. We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.”