Migrants were found in the water as lifeboats from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) were called to an incident in the Channel, the charity said.
The RNLI said that lifeboats from Dover, Ramsgate, Dungeness and Littlestone were called by HM Coastguard to a rescue mission on Thursday morning.
On arrival, the charity said some “casualties” were found in the water before being rescued.
The charity said in a statement: “This morning all-weather RNLI lifeboats from Dover, Ramsgate and Dungeness, along with Littlestone RNLI’s inshore lifeboat, were tasked to an incident in the Channel by HM Coastguard.
“On arrival at the scene, some casualties were found to be in the water. All casualties are believed to be accounted for and were brought to safety by the RNLI’s volunteer crews.”
An eyewitness said there appeared to be more than 40 people brought ashore on board two lifeboats, which had attended a dinghy out in the Channel.
They included women and children, with one woman carrying a small child in her arms.
BREAKING: The RNLI called by Coastguard to incident on Channel
— Sky News (@SkyNews) August 10, 2023
Some casualties were found in the water at the scenehttps://t.co/f8VdDIf20R
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/jZMfdVqpC4
Following the latest Channel rescue, the number of people crossing the English Channel on small boats in the last five-and-a-half years may have passed 100,000.
PA news agency analysis of Government figures since current records began on January 1, 2018 showed that, as of Tuesday, 99,960 people have arrived in the UK after making the journey.
Data on the number of migrants detected crossing the English Channel in small boats to enter the UK each day is published by the Home Office and Border Force.
The figures are published the day after and in its latest update on Thursday, the data shows that on Wednesday, zero people were detected.
Since the beginning of January 2023 to August 9, figures show 15,071 people crossed the Channel.
According to Home Office data, there were 1,843 people were detected crossing the Channel. That figure rose to 8,466 in 2020, 28,526 in 2021 and 45,755 in 2022.
It comes just weeks after sweeping asylum reforms became law and while the Government fends off legal challenges in the courts over its Rwanda deal and decisions to house migrants on former military sites in Essex and Lincolnshire.
Meanwhile, asylum seekers were finally moved onto the Bibby Stockholm barge this week on the Dorset coast after the plans were beset by delays.
The much-criticised Illegal Migration Act, central to the Prime Minister’s pledge to “stop the boats” crossing the Channel, will prevent people from claiming asylum in the UK if they arrive through unauthorised means.
Officials are still working on when the legislation will come into force, and it is anticipated elements of the new laws may be implemented in stages over the coming months.
A series of Home Office announcements were also made this week, such as a crackdown on immigration lawyers helping migrants “exploit” the system, and a new partnership with Turkey to disrupt people-smuggling gangs.
Moreover, talk of leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is once again dividing the Conservative Party, after immigration minister Robert Jenrick hinted on Wednesday that the Government could pull out of the agreement.
Newspaper reports suggest that at least eight Cabinet ministers are among the senior Tories prepared to put leaving the ECHR at the heart of the Conservatives’ next election campaign if deportation flights are blocked by the courts.
The Daily Telegraph reported that up to a third of the Cabinet will join other Conservative MPs in backing the move, in a bid to tackle small boats crossing.
