One person described the crossing as ‘suspicious’, as the incident is urgently reviewed by Home Office officials.
File image of a Border Force vessel delivering migrants to Dover after intercepting a small boat (Image: Getty)
Channel migrants who reached the Kent coast undetected may have made a decoy emergency call to distract coastguards, it is claimed. Fishermen, who were at sea at the time, reportedly said migrants on the small boat called 999 and claimed the dinghy was sinking, without providing a location.
It is believed this could have led to Border Force boats being sent to the middle of the Channel, where most issues unfold. Meanwhile, the migrant boat continued undetected before landing on a beach near Dover. Twenty-one migrants were detained by authorities after reaching Samphire Hoe, but up to 10 on board the boat are believed to be missing without having been processed.
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Channel migrants are usually brought to shore by Border Security Command or the RNLI (Image: Getty)
The incident on Tuesday afternoon, as well as another undetected crossing on Monday, are being urgently reviewed.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the failure to intercept the boats was “not acceptable”.
According to The Telegraph, it is understood emergency services received a 999 call from people on board a migrant boat claiming they were sinking.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has ordered an urgent review (Image: Getty)
At about 09:40am, French authorities issued an alert for vessels to assist, but didn’t provide a position after the caller didn’t offer one.
Around two-and-a-half hours later, the Dover coastguard said the emergency was over with “all persons confirmed ashore, safe and well” and no further assistance was needed, according to reports.
A fisherman who heard the radio reports described it as “suspicious”.
They told The Telegraph: “When you see the boat when it came in, it looked in good condition. It didn’t look like it had drowning migrants in it. It’s all suspicious. It sounds like it could have been a decoy.”
Others suggested a mistake was a more likely explanation for what unfolded.
“I think it is more likely a cock-up,” a political source said. “You can overestimate the sophistication of a crossing when in most cases it is chaotic and fraught with danger.”
The Home Office declined to comment as its review continues.
Before this week, no small boats had officially been recorded as reaching Britain unaccompanied in over a year.
The thousands of migrants crossing the Channel are usually brought to shore by Border Security Command or RNLI boats.
On Thursday, the Border Force union said migrant boats are “definitely” arriving on British shores undetected.
ISU spokeswoman Lucy Moreton said: “If no-one sees them, no-one sees them.
“But we know that we’ve had abandoned vessels, we’ve had reports of uncontrolled landings all the way down to Falmouth.”
People smugglers are believed to be increasingly adopting new tactics for the crossings.
This includes using so-called mega dinghies and boats departing from more westerly beaches along France’s north coast.
Some 781 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats on Wednesday — the highest number on a single day so far this year.
Provisional Home Office figures show 18,565 migrants have made the journey in 2026 — down 42% on the equivalent point last year.
Shocking moment migrant leaves child in the sea during horror Channel crossing
Shocking video footage showed a man carrying a child into the water, only to abandon the youngster
Migrant abandons child during Channel migrant crossing
This is the harrowing moment a migrant left an injured child and climbed onto a Channel dinghy as the stricken youngster was rescued.
Footage of the man carrying the terrified tot through the waves to a waiting taxi-boat emerged on the same day 781 people crossed. After a wave crashes into the small child near Berck, the migrant continues pushing towards the boat, which was already packed with asylum seekers.
A wave then carries the vessel into the pair, and the dazed child starts floating on top of the water. French lifeboat crews rushed through the water, lifting the shocked child onto a rescue paddleboard. But the man shockingly turns away and tries to climb onto the dinghy.
The bewildered child is then left sitting nearby, watching, as dozens of people flounder in the water, with others still trying to clamber onto the boat.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “This is a sickening and heartbreaking scene. A few weeks ago, I saw a similar embarkation myself, where the young male illegal immigrants pushed women and children off the boat.
“The needy are abandoned and young, often-violent men push their way to the front and enter the UK. Women have recently died during crossings on these boats in unexplained circumstances. This illegal immigration route must be completely ended.
“The French government is morally culpable for letting it happen on their beaches when they could easily stop it, as the Belgians have done. The charities supporting this wave of illegal immigration are equally guilty for what is happening, including for the deaths that have occurred.”
The man carries the child towards the dinghy (Image: NowherePhotographer)
The child, apparently unmoving, falls into the water (Image: NowherePhotographer)
Rescuers approach the child (Image: NowherePhotographer)
The child is taken away (Image: NowherePhotographer)
France’s Maritime Prefect for the Channel and the North Sea said the child had been taken into care after the incident on Monday afternoon.
The organisation said: “The gendarmerie and the fire service subsequently took charge of the child, and the prefecture’s land-based services then took over. The child was taken into care following a medical incident.”
The astonishing moment came as 781 people crossed the Channel – a record number for this year.
It will heap pressure on ministers as they desperately try to convince people the borders are secure.
Some 18,565 people have crossed the Channel this year, down 42% on the equivalent point last year.
New analysis has revealed the number of migrants to have crossed the Channel under Labour is greater than the number of full-time soldiers in the British Army.
Some 83,279 people have arrived in small boats, overtaking the 83,000 in the Army.
An average of 103 people per day have crossed the Channel in the 809 days since Labour won the keys to Downing Street.
Mr Philp said: “Labour has let an entire Army-sized population cross the Channel illegally.
“More people have arrived in small boats than we have soldiers defending Britain. That is completely bonkers. Labour has lost control of our borders and seems utterly incapable of getting it back.
“The Conservative plan is to end hotels and benefits for illegal immigrants and instead deport them.”
The dinghy packed with migrants (Image: NowherePhotographer)
But Labour’s Lucy Powell, the Education Secretary, sensationally claimed that Border Force cannot intercept every single migrant crossing.
The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, launched an “urgent review” as officials confirmed at least 21 asylum seekers arrived in Samphire Hoe on Tuesday.
Others are feared to be on the run, with the Home Office carrying out a “thorough investigation”.
And at least five migrants were detected at The Warren, a rocky stretch of coast near Folkestone, on Monday. The crossings were the first unauthorised landings in a year
Zia Yusuf, Reform’s Home Affairs spokesman, said: “This is an abject surrender of our borders by Lucy Powell and Labour. Every migrant boat can and should be intercepted, but this government is too gutless to deploy the Royal Navy and protect the British public from this invasion of undocumented fighting-age men.”
Mr Yusuf added: “It’s abundantly clear that this government will not stop the invasion of unvetted fighting-age males into our country.
“Instead, they are incentivising them with lavish police motorcades to their taxpayer-funded hotels, all while the British public struggles to afford to live in our own country.
“Labour’s promise to smash the gangs is in complete tatters. Without withdrawing from the ECHR and deploying the Royal Navy, the boats will keep on coming, and Brits will continue being forced to foot the bill for these invaders.”
Ms Powell echoed that language on Thursday but suggested not all crossings could be prevented.
Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if the situation was embarrassing for the Government, she responded: “(You) can’t stop everything all of the time.
“Of course, it’s a concern. That’s why the Home Secretary has demanded and ordered this urgent review, because this is not what we want to see. This is not acceptable.
“But the overall picture is an improving picture. It is hard, difficult work that requires constant, constant effort by our border forces, our security services, police, our partnerships with France and other countries.
“This is a mammoth and huge task, which is now starting to reap some dividends. But of course, you know where there are still issues arising, we must absolutely tackle them.”
Pressed on Good Morning Britain whether she stood by her statement, Ms Powell said: “I think you’re just taking that completely out of context.
“We are clamping down on small boat crossings every single day… we are sucking the oxygen out of it, we are taking steps, and there are many, many steps.
“It’s not an easy thing to do to just turn on a switch, turn off a switch overnight. We have to constantly evolve.”
A Government spokesperson said: “Our progress this year in tackling small boats is indisputable – with crossings down by 42% and the lowest recorded over the summer months since 2020.
“But this week’s events show that while the peaks we are seeing are far below those of previous years, we need to push further and harder in order to eradicate this vile trade.”
