British lifeboats and Border Force vessels have rescued over 30 migrants and refugees, including a child, off Dover, Kent as they were trying to cross the English Channel to England in a dangerously overcrowded small boat. Their boat was so full that a Border Force rigid inflatable boat had to make two journeys to take them to a cutter.
The authorities arrested three men on suspicion of immigration offences, and immigration officials are dealing with those rescued.
Although the traffic of unregulated boats attempting to cross the Channel has raised concerns in Britain, the numbers making the crossing are a tiny fraction of the refugees and migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe. Figures from the UN refugee agency UNHCR show that in 2019 to date, 7,685 migrants and refugees reached Europe by sea, including 4,835 in Spain and 2,530 in Greece.
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