Border Force returns migrant boat to France for first time in history after refugee dies in the Channel
18 July 2024, 15:27 | Updated: 18 July 2024, 16:02
A British Border Force vessel has returned a migrant boat back to France for the first time in history.
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The boat was rescued by a British rescue vessel and returned to France for the first time, as was requested by the French coast guard.
It does not represent an official change of UK Government policy.
Those on board likely required immediate medical attention.
Earlier today, the French President Emmanuel Macron said there was "no silver bullet" to stopping the small boats crisis, as Sir Keir Starmer called for greater co-operation between the UK and Europe.
Speaking at the fourth European Political Community summit on Thursday morning, the Prime Minister said the number of migrants crossing the Channel is now a full-blown "crisis".
“We must bring resolve to another challenge facing our continent, the vile trade of people smuggling,” the Prime Minister told European leaders in Oxford on Thursday.
“Let’s be frank, challenge is the wrong word, it is a now a crisis.”
Read More: Starmer not seeking migrant returns deal with European nations, Foreign Secretary tells LBC
“As we speak, as we gather here, a criminal empire is at work in every country represented here today, profiting off human misery and desperation.
“[They are] prepared to send infants, babies, pregnant mothers, innocent people to their deaths.
“Last week, four more souls, and last night another one, were lost in the waters of the English Channel - a chilling reminder of the human cost of this vile trade.”
Last week, four migrants died attempting to cross the Channel.
A boat carrying as many as 67 migrants had to be rescued off the coast of Boulogne sur Mer, northern France.
63 are believed to have been rescued, according to French outlet BMF TV, but four are suspected dead, the French coastguard has said.
A French navy patrol vessel arrived on the scene after reports emerged of migrants falling into the Channel.
