Channel migrants: Border Force picks up 10 men from two boats

Border Force staff intercepted two separate boats on Friday morning and passed the 10 people to immigration officials

Officials have intercepted 10 more suspected migrants spotted in two boats in the English Channel.

Eight men were transferred to a Border Force cutter after Dover Coastguard alerted staff to a vessel containing occupants not wearing life jackets.

And later on Friday another two men in a small boat were picked up by a coastal patrol vessel in the Channel.

A Home Office spokesman said the men, who said they were Iranian, would be interviewed by immigration officials.

He said both vessels were found off the coast of Dover but were not believed to be connected.

More than 60 migrants have been picked up, either from boats or on the mainland in Kent, since last Friday, taking the tally since last November to more than 850.

A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.