A MURAL aiming to raise awareness of the loss of migrant lives in the English Channel has been painted on a sea wall in Ramsgate on the Kent coast.

Emerging into view as the tide goes out, the poignant artwork shows discarded lifejackets and is called The Orange Iceberg.

It was created by street artist Hugh Whitaker and charity Refugease and revealed on the date of the highest number of attempted crossings in previous years — August 22.

According to the Missing Migrants Project, 30 deaths have been recorded in the Channel so far this year.

Refugease founder Valentina Osborn said: “Over the past decade, as wars have escalated, neighbouring countries to conflicts are buckling under the pressure of demands to host ever-increasing numbers of families seeking safety, rendering these environments increasingly inhospitable, as resources are scarce and refugee camps crowded.

“Our aim is first to evacuate civilians from where conflicts are at their most precarious, then we do what we can to add to the resources of neighbouring nations (whether food packages, education, employment opportunities or sustainable farming systems) — doing what we can to help refugees avoid making dangerous journeys further afield.”

Nearly 20,000 people have cross the Channel, which is one of the busiest and most dangerous shipping lanes in the world, in small boats so far this year.

Many migrants come from some of the poorest and most chaotic parts of the world and ask to claim asylum once they have been picked up by British authorities.

A total of 29,437 arrived in small boats in 2023.

This year has also seen the deaths of 880 people attempting to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe, usually in unseaworthy boats.

The Refugease campaign asks commuters to donate the cost of their journey to work, contrasting this mundane task to the gruelling attempt to cross the Channel.