Record 128 migrants arrive across the Channel in one boat, taking total number of crossings to more than 205,000

By DAVID BARRETT, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR Published: 13:03, 12 July 2026 | Updated: 13:20, 12 July 2026 A record 128 migrants crossed the Channel to Britain in a single small boat. In an extraordinarily risky journey, the migrants were picked up mid-Channel after leaving France on Friday. The inflatable dinghies provided by people traffickers are unseaworthy and prone to capsizing. Home Office officials have previously described the flimsy boats as ‘floating deathtraps’ and there have been several mass fatalities involving the dangerous vessels. Friday’s mass crossing beat the previous record of 125 migrants aboard one boat, set in September last year. A total of 225 migrants reached British shores on Friday aboard a total of three dinghies, meaning the other two carried 97 between them. It means 205,049 Channel migrants have now arrived here since the crisis began in 2018. This year’s running tally is 12,439, down 44 per cent on the same time last year. Your browser does not support iframes. It remains unclear, however, whether this year’s number of arrivals will continue to be lower than previous years. The intensity of people trafficking across the Channel is heavily dependent on weather conditions, and persistent strong winds in spring are thought to have suppressed arrivals. However, police have seen some notable successes in tackling people trafficking rings. Migrants arrive in Dover on Wednesday after being picked up mid-Channel by the UK Border Force For example, in May more than 30 boats and more than 20 outboard engines were seized in Germany after a joint operation. It involved Britain’s National Crime Agency, the German Federal Police, the Public Prosecutor's Office in Dusseldorf and the French National Police's Office for Combating Illicit Migration. An NCA spokesman said at time that had the boats made it to the French coast they could have been used to transport more than 2,000 people to the UK illegally. One of Labour's first acts in office was scrapping the previous government's Rwanda asylum deal, which was designed to deter Channel crossings and save lives.  A Home Office spokesman said: ‘Smuggling gangs are taking greater risks than ever, with the number of people they are cramming into unseaworthy boats rising year on year. ‘This crossing serves as a stark reminder that criminal gangs have no regard for the safety of those they claim to help, the reality is clear and lives are being lost in the Channel as a result. ‘This is exactly why we have signed a new deal with the French to prevent these perilous journeys by boosting enforcement action on beaches, building on the over 45,000 attempted crossings stopped since the election.’