Mega dinghy carries record 165 migrants to UK
The vessel was approximately the same size as a standard bus at 13m (42ft) long.
A record 165 migrants reached the UK in a single boat, the Home Office has confirmed.
The number broke the previous record from July, when 128 crossed the Channel from France in one vessel.
Border Security Command was pictured towing a mega dinghy - estimated to be the same size as a standard bus at 13m (42ft) long - when it arrived in Dover on Thursday afternoon.
A Home Office spokesperson said the crossing served as a "stark reminder that criminal gangs have no regard for the safety of those they claim to help".
"The reality is clear and lives are being lost in the Channel," they added.
A total of 162 people died, external in the busy waterway between 2018 and 2025, according to the University of Oxford's Migration Observatory.
This rises to 257 when considering other migration-related deaths in the area, such as accidents involving people trying to board lorries bound for the UK, it added.
Between 1 January and 13 July 2026, a total of 12,469 people crossed the English Channel by small boat from France. This was down by 45% on the same period the previous year.
These crossings have become the most common way for people to be detected entering the UK illegally since 2020.
Nearly all those who arrive by small boat claim asylum. Under international law, this means they are allowed to stay in the country while their asylum application is considered.
Small boat arrivals made up 42% of asylum applications between April 2025 to March 2026.
Boats that arrived in the UK from 14 July 2025 to 13 July 2026 carried an average of 66 people. This has more than doubled since 2021.
Experts say overcrowding in boats makes crossings riskier. At least 84 people died while attempting to cross the Channel in 2024, according to the United Nations (UN).
When looking at the scale of small boats crossings, the number of these arrivals is about 5% of the size of total immigration into the UK from January 2025 to December 2025.
The government has pledged to “smash the gangs” behind these crossings in order to reduce the numbers.
People from Eritrea accounted for 18% of all arrivals from April 2025 to March 2026.
In the latest figures covering January 2025 to December 2025, at least 2,000 people who arrived by small boat were found to be potential victims of human trafficking or other forms of modern slavery, according to the Home Office.
Another 4,535 people were detected entering the UK without permission via other methods including hiding in vehicles, travelling on ferries or through airports from April 2025 to March 2026. This was down by 22% on the same peri