A small boat has crossed the English Channel carrying 230 people, the largest-ever recorded number to make the journey in a single vessel.

The boat arrived in the UK on Saturday, when a total of 258 migrants on four boats made the crossing.

The 230 people on one boat breaks the previous record from July when 165 people made the crossing on a single vessel.

A Home Office spokesperson said this latest incident demonstrated the “reckless and dangerous tactics employed by criminal gangs… who continue to put lives at risk by cramming ever greater numbers of people onto unseaworthy vessels”.

Provisional Home Office figures for the number of people who have crossed the Channel to the UK this year so far is 14,819 – 43% lower than the number recorded by this time last year, and down 16% on the same period in 2024.

Earlier this month, more than 170 people were rescued after the boat they were using to make the crossing caught fire.

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