Migrants pulled from water in English Channel by rescuers
The migrants are all "believed to be accounted for" and were "brought to safety by the RNLI's volunteer crews", the charity says in a statement.
Thursday 10 August 2023 17:35, UK
Migrants have been pulled from the water in the English Channel during a rescue operation by the coastguard.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) said lifeboats from Dover, Ramsgate, Dungeness and Littlestone were called out on Thursday morning.
Some "casualties" were "found to be in the water", the charity said.
They are all "believed to be accounted for" and were "brought to safety by the RNLI's volunteer crews".
Meanwhile, the number of people crossing the English Channel in small boats in the last five-and-a-half years may have passed 100,000.
Government figures show that since 1 January 2018, 99,960 people had arrived in the UK as of Tuesday.
RNLI lifeboats were spotted bringing "dozens" to shore on Thursday, the PA news agency reported, meaning the 100,000 threshold may well have been breached.
An eyewitness said more than 40 people appeared to have been brought in aboard two lifeboats which had been out to a dinghy in the Channel.