Dramatic footage has captured the moment a man appeared to abandon a young child in the sea before trying to climb aboard a dinghy in France, as almost 800 small-boat migrants were confirmed to have crossed to Britain in one day.
The distressing video, filmed near a French beach, shows the man holding a toddler while struggling to reach the overcrowded small boat.
Standing in chest-deep water as waves surged around him, he then released the child, leaving the youngster floating face-up for several seconds.
Rescuers from the French lifeboat organisation SNSM quickly moved in and pulled the child from the water.
The youngster, who appears to be around three or four years old, was carried towards shore on a rescue board while the man continued trying to board the dinghy.
It remains unclear whether the man was related to the child. The youngster was wearing a black hooded jacket and an orange lifejacket.
The footage was recorded off Berck beach, roughly 30 miles south of Boulogne, on Monday afternoon.
The alarming incident emerged as the Home Office reported that 781 migrants arrived in Britain on Wednesday, surpassing this year’s previous daily record of 752, set on July 29.
That brought the total number of Channel arrivals during the first three days of the week to 1,085.
The figures are politically difficult for Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who said just three weeks earlier that the Labour Government’s approach to Channel crossings was beginning to deliver results.
Speaking on September 2, she said: “We are boosting officer numbers to record highs to crack down on small-boat launches and the gangs behind them. This work is bearing fruit.”
Wednesday’s total was more than five times the average number of arrivals recorded on a “red day” during the first eight months of the year. Such days are defined as periods when weather and other conditions are considered more favourable for Channel crossings.
Only two weeks ago, Home Office figures highlighted what officials described as a significant fall in crossings on red days. Between January 1 and the end of August, the average was reported to have dropped to 144.
Despite the latest surge, the Government maintained that its policies were having an impact.
A spokesman said: “Our progress this year in tackling small boats is indisputable – with crossings down by 42 per cent and the lowest recorded over the summer months since 2020.
“But this week’s events show that while the peaks we are seeing are far below those of previous years, we need to push further and harder in order to eradicate this vile trade.”
Ten small boats reached British waters on Wednesday. The vessels were intercepted around the midpoint of the Channel before those on board were taken to Dover by the UK Border Force.
The renewed rise in crossings could suggest that people-smuggling networks are once again able to secure dinghies, outboard motors and other equipment after a law enforcement operation disrupted their supply chains.
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The week has also seen two “uncontrolled landings”, where migrant boats reached the UK without being intercepted by authorities.
During a turbulent 48-hour period in the Channel, as many as 30 migrants arrived by dinghy on a Kent beach on Tuesday before police reached the area.
Video footage captured the moment a man abandoned a child before scrambling onto a dinghy in France
The harrowing and chaotic scenes off a beach in France
Migrants try to board a smuggler’s boat off the beach of Equihen-Plage, northern France, on Wednesday
Officials confirmed 21 people were detained and taken to a Home Office facility, where they will be processed ahead of lodging asylum claims in Britain.
It came just a day after up to seven migrants reached another location in Kent without being intercepted
And in further chaotic scenes a dinghy launched from near Bayeux, in Normandy, made a record 38-hour voyage.
They launched just before 10am on Monday and, on Tuesday afternoon were picked up by RNLI lifeboats and later transferred to a Border Force cutter.
The 51 migrants aboard were eventually brought ashore to Dover in the early hours of Wednesday.
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Labour scrapped the Conservatives’ Rwanda asylum deal as one of its first acts in office in 2024.
Instead, the Government has insisted it can tackle the Channel crisis by increasing law enforcement activities both here and in Europe.
Ms Mahmood signed a new £662million, three-year deal with the French government in April which was designed to improve French beach patrols and prevent crossings.
But critics have said the deal does not provide the British taxpayer with value for money and French gendarmes have been seen failing to intervene as dinghies launch towards Britain.
Wednesday’s 781 arrivals was the highest daily total since December 20 last year when 803 reached the UK.
The all-time record arrivals day was 1,305 on September 3, 2022.