The English Channel is the latest scene of seaborne migrants trying to cross stretches of water to find security and a new life.

The UK’s border police have been responding to a number of incidents of boats carrying migrants across the Channel in recent months.

On one day recently, there were 13 incidents off the coast of Kent, in south east England, in which British coastguard vessels intercepted boats.

One suspected migrant rescued while trying to sail to the UK used a wood-framed raft made of flowerpots.

The sides of the V-shaped raft were made from large flower pots filled with plastic bottles and insulation foam tied together with criss-crossed rope.

The pots were fastened together in pairs top-to-top, the whole craft resembling a rudimentary, ramshackle dinghy.

The Eritrean man, 26, whose name is not known, was using a piece of plastic as a sail and had a jerry can with water, coffee and a solar panel to charge his mobile phone.

Images of the man being given blankets by emergency service workers have been shared on Twitter.

In December, the UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid, declared the rising number of migrants attempting to cross the Channel a “major incident”.

More than 500 people attempted to travel to the UK on small boats last year. Of these, 80 per cent made their attempts in the last three months of the year.

Spokeswoman for the Kent Refugee Action Network Bridget Chapman, which has supported asylum seekers who crossed the Channel on a boat, said: “It’s an extremely dangerous crossing, you have to be desperate to do it.”

Ms Chapman called on the UK government to ease the passage of asylum seekers keen to make a life for themselves in the UK.

“I think the government response has been playing to the gallery. They know that the people coming are mostly Kurdish, they are from an oppressed minority and will have a very good claim for asylum,” she said.

“They should be setting up an office in France to process people’s applications so they can make that journey safely. There’s no need for people to be risking their lives like this.”

A UK Coastguard spokeswoman said it was committed to safeguarding life around the seas and coastal areas of this country.

“We are only concerned with preservation of life, rescuing those in trouble and bringing them safely back to shore, where they will be handed over to the relevant partner emergency services or authorities,” she said.

Overall, migration into Europe is down substantially since over 1 million asylum-seekers and migrants came to the continent in 2015, but the issue still resonates politically, including in the recent elections to the European Parliament.