Seven Iranian migrants intercepted in dinghy on English Channel, Home Office confirms

Border Force detained 11 men as they crossed the Channel in an inflatable boat on Saturday.
Victoria Jones/PA
Nick Charity9 November 2018

Seven migrants have been intercepted in the English Channel, the Home Office has confirmed.

The Dover coastguard assisted the Border Force agents with an incident in the Channel at roughly 2am this morning, according to the BBC.

The migrants are said to have presented themselves as Iranian and were found in good health.

They now await an interview with immigration officers.

Arrest: police at Dover Port, where detectives investigating the Parsons Green bombing detained an 18-year-old man
PA

A lifeboat from Dover was launched at 2.30am to rescue people in the dinghy, according to earlier reports. 

A Home Office spokesman confirmed the incident and said seven migrants were intercepted in a small dinghy.

"On the morning of 9 November 9, HM Coastguard and the RNLI intercepted a group of migrants in the Channel in a small dinghy," the Home Office said.

"A Border Force vessel was deployed and Border Force maritime officers assisted with moving the migrants ashore.

"Seven migrants, who also presented themselves as Iranian, were found.

"They have been given a medical assessment and do not require treatment. They will be interviewed shortly by immigration officials."

A statement from the Maritime and Coast Guard Agency said: "HM Coastguard is currently assisting Border Force with an incident in the Dover Channel."

South East Coast Ambulance Service said paramedics attended a call at Dover Docks. "The people on the boat were brought to safety," said a spokesman. "We assessed them at the scene but none required medical attention."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Sign up you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy notice .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in