Young children among latest to make English Channel crossing in small boats

More than 10 children and a man using crutches were among the latest migrants to arrive on small boats across the English Channel.

At least 60 people are understood to have made the crossing on Thursday, with some being brought ashore at Dungeness, Kent, on an RNLI lifeboat.

Couples were seen carrying crying young children and a baby as they climbed off the lifeboat and had to walk through ankle-high water along the foreshore to reach the beach.

About 30 men were the first to be taken ashore, followed by the lifeboat containing the families.

They were met by Border Force officials to be taken away to be processed.

The arrivals on Thursday come after 106 on Wednesday and 497 on Saturday – the highest number in one day so far this year – bringing the total, not including Thursday’s crossings, to 5,652.