Migrants queue for small boats to the UK in northern France despite the deaths of six Afghan men in the Channel

Scores of migrants were seen heading for beaches in northern France last night, apparently undeterred by the deaths of six Afghan men in the Channel.

Within just a few minutes the Daily Mail witnessed three groups of up to 50 people, all laden with bags, emerging from the undergrowth beside the motorway near Dunkirk, and heading for a bus stop in the direction of the Channel coast.

A police van pulled up opposite the bus stop, but did nothing to stop the groups.

Those heading for the beach as the sun went down included a woman in a full-face veil, an elderly man and a toddler being carried upon an adult’s shoulders.

French authorities warned yesterday that people smugglers were ‘saturating’ the coast of Northern France with migrants desperate to reach Britain.

Migrants undeterred by the drownings in the English Channel queue for a bus in Dunkirk to take them to their launch site along the French coast 

Tents of migrants installed at a makeshift camp in Loon-Plage, northern France, August 12

Around 1,000 migrants were said to be waiting to cross the Channel in small boats despite the latest tragedy in which six people died and more than 50 had to be rescued after their overcrowded boat sank off the French coast.

Some 65 people were crammed onto the inflatable dinghy without emergency equipment or life jackets – one of several such craft to have set off from France in the early hours of Saturday.

French authorities said smugglers had launched boats from several different beaches in an apparent attempt to stretch police resources and maximise their chances of success.

More than 500 people crossed the Channel on Saturday, making it the fourth busiest day of 2023 so far and meaning more than 1,600 made the journey in just three days at the end of last week.

The high numbers of crossings, the latest deaths and the ongoing row over the use of the Bibby Stockholm floating barge to house asylum seekers have thrown the Government’s ‘stop the boats’ crackdown into chaos. 

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made it one of five key pledges for his leadership, but Tory MPs openly questioned whether it was even possible to stop the crossings.

More than 100,000 people have made the journey since 2018 and latest figures take the provisional total for the year so far to 16,679.

Conservative MP Tim Loughton, a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said: ‘No one is stopping the boats as it stands at the moment… You will never be able to stop the boats completely.’

He said legal routes for asylum seekers would clamp down on those who tried to enter Britain illegally, but warned it would not be possible to stop all crossings. 

Mr Loughton questioned the Government’s ‘small boat week’ of announcements on migration, saying: ‘I think it was probably not a good idea to have a small boat week. It was hostage to fortune.’

Questions were also raised over the role of two French naval ships which were tracking a number of small boats at the time of the tragedy. 

The PSP Cormoran was understood to have been nearby when the inflatable dinghy capsized in rough conditions, some six miles off the French coast.

A source told the Mail on Sunday that the French ship was escorting the small boats, adding: ‘This is a French policy designed to ensure migrants make it to British waters as safely and quickly as possible.’

MPs have questioned why France has not done more to stop the crossings, given Britain has handed it almost £500 million to halt the deadly people-smuggling trade.

But French minister Herve Berville said smugglers had deliberately launched simultaneous crossings in a bid to stretch resources. 

He explained: ‘The smugglers have a strategy of saturating the coast – they trigger simultaneous crossings between Dunkirk and Boulogne, to occupy the police.’ 

He described the smugglers as ‘criminals, who send young people, women, adults to their death, through these dangerous maritime routes’.

French authorities confirmed that the PSP Cormoran rescued 33 survivors from the capsize off the coast of Sangatte, while the Pluvier saved five.

Five Afghan men died at the scene and a sixth was airlifted to hospital in Le Touquet, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

Most of the survivors were taken back to Calais, although around a dozen were taken to Dover by British rescuers. 

Witnesses said the overcrowded inflatable had deflated, and described how terrified migrants had attempted to use their shoes to bail out water from the sinking craft.

Rescued migrants sit on a French rescue ship after a migrant boat trying to cross the Channel from France capsized, in Calais, France, August 12, 2023

Meanwhile, people smugglers have continued to brazenly advertise their vile trade online, in an attempt to inspire more desperate migrants to try to reach Britain. 

They uploaded videos of overcrowded boats, offering ‘a cheap price’ for ‘France’s road to Britain’.

Welsh Secretary David TC Davies told Times Radio: ‘There’s really no reason for people to risk their lives in this fashion.

‘We should be doing everything possible to just stop people from doing so and to stop people smugglers from putting people’s lives at risk in this way. 

‘It’s a tragedy. But sadly, it’s going to continue happening as long as people are put to sea in small, unstable, leaking rafts across the English Channel.’

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