One missing after 87 migrants rescued while attempting to cross the Channel

One migrant remains missing after 87 people were rescued when they got into difficulty as they attempted to cross the English Channel in a small boat.

The dinghy began to have trouble on Saturday evening while it was still in the French Search and Rescue Region, French authorities said.

A rescue operation was subsequently launched and "all available resources" were deployed to assist those travelling on the vessel, the Prefecture maritime de la Manche et de la mer du Nord added.

The RIAS Abeille Normandie assistance vessel rescued 87 people, including one person suffering from hypothermia, and one individual was reported missing.

The English Channel is one of the world's busiest stretches of water, where harsh weather, sandbanks, and freezing winter temperatures can make navigation particularly difficult.

An "important" search operation was launched to locate the missing person, involving ships, an aircraft and a helicopter, before it was called off several hours later at 10pm local time (9pm GMT).

Rescuers then disembarked at Calais harbour, where emergency services met them, authorities said.

According to French media, the body of a man aged in his 20s was recovered on the Sainte-Cécile beach in Camiers, Pas-de-Calais, northern France, around 8am on Saturday.

It came after a rescue operation was launched to help people who had got into difficulty while attempting to cross the Channel overnight, after setting off from the same beach, the reports said.

Five men with hypothermia symptoms were rescued by French fire services, the media said.

A total of 23,529 people have crossed the English Channel since the start of 2026, according to the latest available Home Office figures.

That remains far below last year’s total of more than 41,000 people.

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Earlier this week, hundreds of bank accounts with suspected links to criminal immigration networks were shut down in a bid to crack down on smuggling gangs.

More than 500 accounts have been closed after banks flagged their potential ties to organised immigration crime.

The 30 banks involved with the pilot scheme have also been tasked with spotting intermediaries and front companies, and more than 875 intelligence reports about potential offending and money laundering have been made.

Border security minister Anna Turley said: "People smugglers make their money from misery. This Government is determined to make sure crime doesn’t pay."

The Labour minister continued: "By bringing together the expertise of banks and law enforcement, we have already closed over 500 suspected accounts and generated hundreds of intelligence reports to help expose criminal networks.

"We will keep tightening the net around these gangs, disrupting their operations and denying them the profits they expect."

Arrivals so far this year are down 39.8 per cent from the same period in 2025, with 23,529 crossings, putting Labour on track for the lowest annual total since 2020.

However, analysis of official data by GB News reveals the weather in the Channel has been substantially worse this year than in 2025.

The number of Eritreans who cross the Mediterranean from Libya fell 56 per cent in the first eight months of 2026.

The number of Afghans arriving in Europe by land also fell 56 per cent.

Mike Tapp, who served as Migration Minister under Sir Keir Starmer, told The People's Channel: "There has been upstream disruption of the supply of small boats and engines, as well as a significant number of disruptions on the beaches.

"It's making life more difficult for the smuggling gangs, from Kuwait to Calais."