PA Wire
Anahita Hossein-Pour13 January 2024
Migrants have crossed the English Channel for the first time in 2024.
Arrivals have not been recorded since December 16, according to Home Office figures, with poor weather conditions potentially contributing to the lack of activity at sea.
They were seen arriving in a Border Force vessel.
Previously there were 26 days of no crossings to the UK recorded up until January 11.
This was the longest gap in small boat arrivals for five years.
The provisional annual total for 2023, 29,437, is 36% lower than the record 45,774 crossings for the whole of 2022.
It is still the second highest annual total on record, above the figure for 2021 (28,526).
