Migrants carry a smuggling boat on their shoulders as they prepare to embark on the beach of Gravelines, near Dunkirk, northern France on October 12, 2022
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)Migrant small boat crossings have dropped off with none in two weeks following last month’s dinghy tragedy that claimed the lives of four people.
Government figures appear to show that no migrants attempted to cross the English Channel for 14 days -the longest stretch without any arrivals for nine months.
No crossings have been recorded by the Ministry of Defence since January 2, when 44 people made the journey in one boat in the only crossing of the year so far.
Government officials previously suggested any drop in crossings over the winter could be seasonal and linked to weather conditions, with numbers expected to rise again in the spring.
The drop in crossings came the month after four people died after their dinghy capsized in the stretch of water on December 14.
That followed another dinghy disaster which saw at least 27 migrants die when their vessel sank on the way to the UK from France in November last year.
More than half of migrants who claimed to be victims of modern slavery after crossing the Channel in the first half of last year were Albanian, figures suggest.
Home Office data obtained under freedom of information (FOI) laws indicate 1,156 people were recorded as making such a claim between January and June 2022.
Of these, 591 were Albanian, according to figures provided by the department following a request from campaign group Migration Watch.
Some 116 other people claiming to be victims of modern slavery during this period were from Eritrea, 89 were from Sudan, 71 were from Iran, 69 were from Vietnam and 46 were from Afghanistan.
The number of crossings has increased steadily each year since 299 people were detected making the journey in 2018.
There were 1,843 crossings in 2019, 8,466 in 2020 and 28,526 in 2021, according to the Home Office.
The provisional total for 2022 – 45,756 – is 60% higher than the figure for 2021.
