Search for Channel migrants called off after 36 hours with four still missing, and teenager among four confirmed dead
15 December 2022, 19:09
The search for migrants who fell into the English Channel after their dinghy capsized early on Tuesday morning has been called off, with four people still unaccounted for.
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The Royal Navy, French navy, Coastguard, RNLI lifeboats and a fishing boat rescued 39 people, 12 of whom were children, from the freezing waters, local authorities said, before the search was called off at 3.30pm on Thursday.
The major rescue operation off the Kent coast lasted about 36 hours, after the emergency services were called to a boat "in distress" at 3.05am on Wednesday.
Two casualties were taken to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, bosses there said. One was later discharged but the other had died by the time they arrived.
One of the four people who died was a teenager, according to Roger Goold, head of Kent County Council, although no more details are available yet.
The 12 lone migrant children rescued from the dinghy, which sent out a distress signal in the early hours of Wednesday morning after their boat sprang a leak, have now been taken into the care in Kent.
Mr Goold said that the tragedy was a "sobering reminder of the human costs of what is an ongoing crisis".
Some 45,000 migrants have crossed the Channel this year in small boats, paying people smugglers thousands of pounds to ferry them across from France in perilous conditions.
One of the boats that went to rescue migrants was a scallop trawler whose crew found themselves surrounded by scores of struggling migrants.
A fisherman colleague of the hero skipper who came to their rescue told LBC that the problem is "prolific".
Ben Squire told Nick Ferrari that he wasn't on the boat but his team were first at the scene, explaining: “I was awoken at 4’o’clock in the morning, took a couple of deep breaths, it’s never a phone call like that to see how I’m doing...
“The fishermen who work in that part of the channel are in the thick of it. We’ve been involved in an incident before, that was last summer, it’s prolific.”
Migrants pulled onto ship as dinghy sinks in the Channel
The captain himself described the scenes as "like something out of a second world war movie."
"There were people in the water everywhere, screaming," he added.
Meanwhile head of lifeboats at the RNLI Simon Ling told LBC: "The whole situation and complexity around migration draws different opinion from all quarters but, for the RNLI, it’s relatively simple.
"The RNLI is a charity that exists to save lives at sea and our role in this crisis is to respond to the pager when we're tasked by His Majesty’s coastguard.
"This is about men and women, brothers and sisters, all at this lifeboat station who went out to save fellow men, women, brothers and sisters.
"So for us we just concentrate on what we've been doing for 198 years and that’s to save lives at sea.
He added: "Saving lives at sea is an incredible human endeavour and one that we’re very proud of."
Ex-Navy commander praises fishermen who went to help singing migrants
A spokesperson for the Coastguard said: The extensive search coordinated by HM Coastguard for people missing from a small boat in the English Channel was concluded at 3.30 pm today.
"A total of 43 people were recovered from the water, sadly including four fatalities.
"Our thoughts continue to be with those affected by this tragic incident and with the families of those who have lost their lives. We would like to thank everyone involved in the search and rescue operation."
Politicians united to blame people traffickers who take people across the Channel in the aftermath of the tragedy.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: "These are the days that we dread. Crossing the Channel in unseaworthy vessels is a lethally dangerous endeavour.
"It is for this reason, above all, that we are working so hard to destroy the business model of the people smugglers, evil, organised criminals who treat human beings as cargo."
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the incident was a reminder that criminal gangs running the crossing routes put "the lives of the desperate at risk and profit from their misery"
But campaigners also blamed the Government's "hostile" asylum policies for the deaths which they said were "predictable and avoidable", while Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said the incident showed "debates about asylum seekers are not about statistics, but precious human lives".
The tragedy came just a day after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak unveiled a five-point plan to tackle illegal immigration, as he pledged to clear the backlog of cases by the end of next year.
The PM announced the creation of a 'small boats' command centre, more raids, and plans to slash the £5.5m daily bill currently being spent on putting migrants up in hotels.
He also confirmed tougher steps to stop people arriving from Albania, a safe country.
Mr Sunak told MPs on Tuesday: "It is not cruel or unkind to want to break the stranglehold of criminal gangs who trade in human misery and who exploit our system and laws. Enough is enough."
The five measures announced were:
- New permanent small boats operational command bringing together military, civilian and NCA, with 700 new staff and more funding for the NCA to tackle immigration crime
- Immigration officers to be freed up to do more raids. Illegal migrants will be stopped from getting bank accounts
- Halve the £5.5m daily hotel bill on migrants by housing people in former student halls, disused holiday parks and surplus military sites
- Migrant claims to be processed in days or weeks. The number of asylum case workers will be doubled and paperwork slashed. The aim is to to clear the backlog by the end of next year
- UK Border force posted in Albania airport and New guidance for caseworkers to make it clear Albania is a safe country
