A new record has been registered regarding the number of migrants carried in a single boat during attempts at illegal crossing into Great Britain via the English Channel.
Sea-news.az reports that a large rubber boat heavily overloaded with migrants set off from the French coast at night and arrived in the British port city of Dover early in the morning. This trip, which transported 230 people, became a historical anti-record in terms of the number of migrants crossing the English Channel in a single boat. In the previous record registered in July, 165 people were transported in a single boat.
It is reported that in recent months, human smugglers have been putting more people onto rubber boats in violation of safety standards in order to cut costs and share the risk of being intercepted by the Coast Guard. During January–July of the current year, nearly 14,000 irregular migrants entered the territory of Great Britain by crossing the English Channel via sea routes. The British Coast Guard and Royal Navy emphasize that against the backdrop of intensive vessel traffic in the strait, the risk of sinking for such severely overloaded boats is extremely high.
