Channel rescue
Moment dinghy full of migrants including a baby beg for help during Good Morning Britain broadcast from the English Channel
The group of nine people were found floating crossing the English Channel
A DINGHY full of migrants, including an 18-month-old girl, has been found in the English Channel during a Good Morning Britain broadcast.
The group of nine people were spotted in the tiny boat during the freezing early hours of this morning.
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An ITV camera crew spotted the 3m vessel as it bobbed up and down in the water after it was initially flagged to officials by a fishing boat.
Journalist Jonathan Swain can be heard calling the group - believed to be from Iraq - saying: "Do you need help?
"How many of you are there?"
He then assures the group help is coming, with a Border Force vessel later arriving to take them to shore.
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The group can be seen peering at the camera as they huddle together under blankets.
They are then pulled to safety by Border Force officials and taken to be interviewed.
It comes after 86 migrants have been detained in the last two weeks alone - more than six times the number for the whole of 2017.
This morning's arrival brings the total number of migrants found crossing the Channel by boat to 42.
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A Home Office spokesperson said: "Border Force was contacted by Kent Police, Tuesday 27 November at around 3.15am.
"A Border Force cutter and a coastal patrol vessel were deployed and intercepted a dinghy off the Kent Coast with nine people on board.
"The nine were taken on board the cutter and were brought into Dover where they were met by Border Force officers.
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"The group consisted of one man and two family groups – father, mother and three minors; father, mother and one minor - all of whom presented themselves as Iraqi.
"All are medically well and have been transferred to Immigration officials for interview.”
Home Secretary Sajid Javid is said to be considering redeploying a British ship because migrants in ten boats have risked their lives trying to reach the UK in three months.
He reportedly wants a high-speed Border Force cutter to return from helping rescue migrants in the Mediterranean — to do the same job in the English Channel.
Dover and Deal MP Charlie Elphicke warned: “Things are getting worse.”
It comes after the Sun Online revealed how a tiny French port has been inundated by migrants trying to break into moving trucks to get to the UK.
Ouistreham, the small French fishing port that is now the flashpoint for migrants trying to get into the UK
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