British rescuers save migrants in ‘grave danger’ as French look on

Border Force crews have come to the aid of people making the hazardous journey between France and England (Picture: Getty)

British rescuers plucked casualties from the water and came to the aid of small boats packed with almost 90 people at a time in the Channel and North Sea last year.

The crews attended dangerously overloaded dinghies attempting to make the perilous journey despite the French authorities tracking the crossings on nearly all occasions.

In some instances, the occupants were taken back to British ports despite the flimsy boats having been spotted leaving French beaches in the direction of the UK.

Logs obtained by Metro.co.uk show the atrocious state of the dinghies attempting to cross one of the world’s busiest shipping straits, with the rescuers having to pluck people from the water and navigate a notorious stretch of the North Sea.

Rishi Sunak has made ‘stopping the boats’ a key plank of his premiership, signing a new multi-year financial package with France to stem the crossings and pressing on with the controversial Rwanda deportation scheme.

However the logs released by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) after a Freedom of Information Act request by Metro.co.uk show large groups facilitated by people-smuggling gangs have continued to attempt crossings triggering multi-agency responses.

In the biggest single incident disclosed, 89 people, including ‘many children’, were recovered by the Border Force’s Ranger catamaran and taken to the Western Jet Foil holding facility in Dover.

A picture taken from a drone shows people crossing the English Channel in March 2024 (Picture: EPA/Tolga Akmen)

The overcrowded dinghy was ‘accompanied by French vessel Apollo Moon’ on September 4 last year, according to the log. Some of those onboard were said to be ‘standing in the middle’ of the tightly packed vessel.

The boat had been spotted by French police and was tracked by the French authorities before British rescuers took responsibility for those onboard.

An urgent call came 10 days later when Kent police received distress calls from migrants in a notorious stretch of the North Sea who said that water was coming in through a hole in their boat, which had children on board.

The Ranger, supported by a drone, three sister vessels and an RNLI lifeboat, attended as a report came in of ‘persons in the water’.

One update records the moment the mission entered a ‘distress phase’ due to the stricken boat being in ‘grave and imminent danger’.

One of the occupants who got through to the police was recorded as saying, ‘hello hello help me please’.

A British immigration enforcement officer (l) and an interforce security officer escort people thought to be migrants in Dungeness (Picture: Ben Stansall/AFP)

Amid ‘windy and frantic’ conditions, the Ranger crew rescued 72 people from the boat and water near East Goodwin Lightvessel, which marks the treacherous Goodwin Sands, and transferred them to Ramsgate Harbour.

Another major response involved the Border Forces’ Hurricane catamaran rescuing 75 people attempting to transit the Dover Strait.

The small boat was first spotted by the French authorities to the south of the beaches near Boulogne, according to the incident report.

Raising the alarm, the occupants said there was ‘water in the boat and people in the water’. The vessel appeared to be having engine problems before the UK rescuers, including two Border Force vessels, a Coastguard helicopter and a drone, intervened after it had moved into their search and rescue zone while still outside UK territorial waters.

One or more of the migrants jumped from the dinghy to get to the British ship because they were ‘impatient’ and the vessel was ‘overcrowded and in a poor state’, according to an update logged to the Hurricane.

The small boat had been shadowed by French vessel Abeille Normandie which was the first rescue vessel on scene, the log shows.

In total, the MCA released 28 reports of rescues involving 70 people or more attempting to make the journey to the UK from France.

The launches have continued despite the prime minister’s pledge and a series of tragedies which most recently included the deaths of five people trying to get into a boat which overturned in freezing water.

The loss of life occurred in the early hours of January 14 this year near Wimereux beach, Pas-de-Calais, according to local media reports.

The MCA’s disclosure led to calls from two organisations for safe routes to enable people to claim asylum in the UK without risking their lives.

Asli Tatliadim, head of campaigns at Refugee Action, said: ‘People continue to squeeze into unsafe boats to cross the Channel because the government refuses to open safe routes for people to reach the UK to seek asylum.

‘No amount of expensive, unworkable and hostile deterrence policies such as its grim deal with the government of Rwanda will change that fact.’

An aerial view shows rolled-up inflatable dinghies and outboard engines stored in a Port Authority yard in Dover (Picture: Ben Stansall/AFP)

Steve Ballinger, director of think-tank British Futures, told Metro.co.uk that ‘humanitarian visas’ could be part of a solution to breaking the grip people- smugglers hold on migrant flows.

Mr Ballinger said: ‘Dangerous journeys across the Channel are nobody’s idea of a safe or effective asylum system. Threatening to detain and deport everyone who crosses the Channel makes news headlines, but it’s neither a workable nor a humane solution.

‘Most of the public don’t think it will act as a deterrent. It’s time to look at new, practical approaches to asylum – including humanitarian visas that provide a safe route for people to claim asylum in the UK, undermining the business model of people smugglers.’

In March last year, the prime minister announced that the UK would help to fund a new detention centre in France, with the French authorities deploying more personnel and enhanced technology, including drones and aircraft, to patrol beaches.

Around £478 million was pledged over the following three years to pay for the plans, which were part of a package of measures also including work to combat people-trafficking gangs.

At the time, Mr Sunak reiterated that he had ‘made it one of my five priorities to stop the boats’ and the new deal meant ‘we have gone further than ever before to put an end to this disgusting trade in human life’.

A damaged inflatable dinghy, outboard motors, life jackets and sleeping bags abandoned on the French coast (Picture: Pascal Rossignol, Reuters)

The move, announced after Mr Sunak met French president Emmanuel Macron in Paris, followed a £55 million cross-Channel deal the previous year, which made provisions for increased security patrols and surveillance.

However a record number of small boat crossings has been recorded this year. The number of people arriving in Britain via the Channel in the first three months of 2024 rose to 5,435 — a 43% increase on the same timeframe the previous year.

The Home Office maintains that 550,000 people have made safe and legal passage to the UK since 2015 and a wide range of measures has been taken on all fronts to tackle the crossings since Mr Sunak took office.

A spokesperson for the department said: ‘The unacceptable number of people who continue to cross the Channel demonstrates exactly why we must get flights to Rwanda off the ground as soon as possible.

‘We continue to work closely with French police who are facing increasing violence and disruption on their beaches as they work tirelessly to prevent these dangerous, illegal and unnecessary journeys.

‘We remain committed to building on the successes that saw arrivals drop by more than a third last year, including tougher legislation and agreements with international partners, in order to save lives and stop the boats.’

The RNLI has also been involved in rescues as an independent charity that answers emergency calls from Her Majesty’s Coastguard.

In turn, the latter is part of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

An MCA spokesperson said: ‘HM Coastguard works with the French Coastguard in the English Channel to ensure people are recovered as safely as possible. HM Coastguard will continue to respond to those in distress at sea and in coastal areas of the UK, in accordance with the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea.’

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