According to the RNLI, lifeboats were sent 290 times last year to rescue migrants in the English Channel.
For the first time, the organisation has made public information about its work on migrant crossings.
The RNLI, which has been chastised for providing a “taxi service” for migrants, reported saving 108 lives in the Channel between France and the Kent coast.
Its CEO stated that he made no apologies for saving lives at sea.
In 2022, lifeboats manned by volunteer crews were launched more than 9,000 times off the coasts of the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The charity’s annual report for 2022 shows a 3.5% rise in net revenue, part of which came from larger donations, but expenditures also increased.
Some of the funds have gone towards the development of a new gadget known as “sea stairs,” a floating platform that allows workers to rescue people from the ocean more rapidly.
Mr. Ling called the floating platform a “game changer.”
He said that a standard rescue of a sinking small boat would take roughly one minute per person, but the sea stairs allowed 20 people to be rescued in 90 seconds.
The arrival of 616 migrants on tiny boats on Monday brings the total number of migrants crossing in 2023 to 8,380.
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