More than 44,000 migrants have crossed English Channel THIS YEAR

GB News can reveal that more than 44,000 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year.

It comes after around 200 people on small boats made the journey earlier this morning.

Official figures put the total number at 43,874 after the Ministry of Defence confirmed that 426 people crossed yesterday in 8 inflatables.

But this morning’s arrivals mean that more than 44,000 migrants have now made the crossing.

The number who made it to the UK in the whole of 2021 was 28,526.

This week has seen a surge in arrivals after an improvement in the poor weather which had prevented crossings for more than a fortnight

884 people crossed on Tuesday in 17 inflatables.

It follows 426 who crossed on Monday in 7 small boats.

The latest figures come after GB News revealed that Channel migrants are taking significant risks with their lives, by using tyre inner-tubes as makeshift life jackets.

A GB News camera crew filmed one abandoned boat full of inner-tubes off the coast of Dover.

A source confirmed the rubber tubes were being used as makeshift life jackets.

The discovery is unusual, as people smuggling gangs have become more sophisticated in their operations of late, and now provide life jackets as standard issue on their small boats.

Our source said: “A year or two ago, you used to see people smugglers using rubber inner-tubes on occasions as a substitute for life preservers because the criminal gangs weren’t that sophisticated then.

“They would use inner-tubes or chunks of polystyrene.

“But in the last year in particular, the organised crime groups have well sourced supply lines, giving them access to thousands of life jackets on a regular basis.”

Our source suggested that criminal gangs may have been forced to resort to the use of inner-tubes again because of an interruption in their supply lines, perhaps due to police enforcement activity.

Whatever the reason, the source said authorities would be deeply concerned by the development.