Nearly 500 migrants have made the crossing of the Channel to the UK in one day.
According to Home Office figures, a total of 471 people arrived in nine boats on Saturday October 12, following 142 in two boats on Friday.
The latest arrivals bring the total so far for 2024 to 27,225 which is a 5% increase on the same time last year but 25% less than 2022.
By October 12 2023, 25,931 people had made the crossing and in 2022, 36,491 had arrived.
The crossings on Saturday came a week after four people, including a two-year-old boy, died after two boats got into trouble off the coast of France on Saturday October 5.
The fatal incidents came on the same day as 973 migrants crossed in 17 small boats, the biggest daily number this year.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
‘As we have seen with so many recent devastating tragedies in the Channel, the people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay.
‘We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.
‘We are making progress, bolstering our personnel numbers in the UK and abroad.
‘Our new Border Security Command will strengthen our global partnerships and enhance our efforts to investigate, arrest, and prosecute these evil criminals.’
It comes after revealed how an illegal migrant has racked up millions of views on TikTok by boastfully posting videos of him attempting to cross the English Channel on a small boat.
Asylum seeker Mada Pasa, who has a Kalashnikov face tattoo, has provoked fury with his online videos in which he pretends to fire a gun and ‘vlogs’ his efforts to illegally reach the UK from northern France.
In one video, Pasa, believed to be from Afghanistan, is seen imitating firing a weapon with three young women sat on his lap. In another, he is staying in a tent with two hooded friends, one of whom is posing with a real gun.
Pasa, who had been living in Stockholm before travelling to France, has shared more than 60 videos, racking up almost 20,000 followers, 227,000 likes and millions of views as he tries to become a TikTok star by sharing content from the treacherous journey.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage shared Pasa’s content last night and told his followers: ‘I want you to watch this film and think to yourself is this the kind of person we want to come and live in our country? Is this the kind of person you would like to live next to you?