Average, more than triple compared to 2020
(ANSA) – LONDON, JANUARY 04 – In 2021 over 28 thousand migrants crossed the English Channel to the United Kingdom on board small boats, the highest level ever recorded: this is what emerges from a study by the British news agency PA based on the analysis of official statistics.
According to the agency, a total of 28,395 people have reached the British coast, more than three times the number in 2020 (more than 8,400). The peak was last November, with at least 6,869 arrivals favored by good weather conditions: in the day of 11 November alone, a record of 1,185 migrants arrived in the country.
The increase in admissions is partly due to the use of larger boats than in the past by human traffickers, who loaded an average of 28 people and in some cases up to 50 on each dinghy.
And during the year also on this route there were tragedies at sea, with at least 27 migrants – including a 16-year-old boy and a child of seven – drowned off the coast of France on 24 November last while trying to cross the English Channel. aboard what French officials likened to an inflatable paddling pool. (HANDLE).