Fourteen 'migrants' on dinghies rescued off Kent coast

Fourteen suspected migrants claiming to be Iranian have been rescued from two dinghies off the Kent coast.

A first boat, with six men and one woman, was intercepted by Border Force officers off the coast of Dover at about 01:30 GMT.

A second, with seven men on board, was spotted hours later at about 08:00. All 14 people have been passed to immigration officials for interview.

So far this month 93 suspected Iranian migrants have crossed the Channel.

One of the dinghies was taken to Dover Harbour

South East Coast Ambulance Service said the patients from both boats were "checked over at the scene".

None of them needed hospital treatment.

Charlie Elphicke, MP for Dover and Deal, said: "The Home Office say they have stepped up patrols in the South East, yet clearly not enough is being done.

"The numbers we are seeing are unprecedented and deeply concerning."

In a separate incident earlier, the French authorities said a helicopter and rescue ships saved 11 migrants whose boat was in distress off the coast of the French town of Wimereux.

Four were taken to hospital with hypothermia and the others handed over to border police in Calais.

22 November

• Fourteen people, including one woman, were intercepted in two dinghies off the coast of Dover

18 November

• Nine suspected migrants were found clambering up rocks in Folkestone after apparently crossing the English Channel in a small boat

16 November

• Seven suspected migrants were found off Samphire Hoe, near Dover

14 November

• Nine suspected migrants, seven men, one woman and a toddler, were found off the Kent coast

• Another 10 were found near Dover Docks

• Five men were found several miles of Ramsgate

13 November

• Fourteen men and three children entered Port of Dover on French fishing boat, that was believed to have been stolen

9 November

• Seven men were found in English Channel off Dover

3 November

• Eight suspected migrants were stopped off the Kent coast

• Seven others were stopped at Dover Western Docks