French coastguard could face criminal charges after 'leaving 27 migrants to drown'
23 November 2022, 08:47 | Updated: 23 November 2022, 08:52
French coastguards could be held criminally liable for allegedly ignoring 27 migrants, including children, who drowned crossing the Channel.
Authorities are accused of ignoring as many as 15 calls for help while also neglecting to pass a warning to their British counterparts.
One coastguard member is accused of saying "I didn't ask you to set off" after the line went dead during a call with a drowning man.
The shocking claims are part of a French police report leaked to newspaper Le Monde, detailing a disaster in November 2021, which saw a dinghy deflate after leaving the coast of France for the UK.
Out of the 34 passengers, 17 men, seven women (one of whom was pregnant), and three children died. Five are still missing and two survived the ordeal.
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It is alleged that French authorities mistakenly thought the migrants were already in British waters when they were calling for help, and so didn't venture out to assist them.
When one man called rescuers to say he was "in the water", a French operator allegedly told him: "Yes, but you are in English waters."
As she attempted to transfer the call to Dover, the line cut off, and the operator allegedly uttered: "Ah, so you can’t hear. You won’t be saved. Your feet are in the water, well… I didn’t ask you to set off."
Several calls were made to coastguards on both sides of the Channel, with the first to France's Cross Gris-Nez regional office made at around 2am.
The leaked police report claims British authorities asked the French to send boats because it was closer, but this was not carried out.
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It also alleges that French officials told a nearby tanker not to intervene to save people on the dinghy because a ship was on the way, which wasn't true.
According to the report, authorities in France could face criminal charges of ‘failing to help people in danger’ over the incident.
It wasn't until the following afternoon that a fishing boat came across the dead bodies floating in the sea. New evidence of the treacherous journey were also revealed in an ITV documentary, The Crossing.
The programme claims both British and French authorities wasted crucial hours passing the buck over whose responsibility it was to save these people.
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The leaked French police report recommended investigations into the local Regional Maritime Surveillance and Rescue Operational Centre.
Around 42,000 migrants have made the perilous journey across the Channel to the UK so far this year, despite the law changing in June, making it an offence to arrive in British waters without permission, even to claim asylum.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman is trying to revive a plan to deport people who've arrived in this way, which has been stalled by the European Court of Human Rights.
