A boat carrying 38 people, including children, that got into difficulty crossing the Channel was not rescued when it reached UK waters but was instead allowed to drift back towards France, according to internal maritime logs.
Ministry of Defence officials, who were managing small boats in the Channel at the time, told the Guardian in January that they disputed that the stricken dinghy had entered UK waters.
But statements in the internal maritime logs disclosed in a freedom of information request confirm that UK officials believed the stricken dinghy did enter but was not rescued despite the engine failing and the 38 adults and children on board not wearing lifejackets.
Alarm Phone’s Channel Group obtained the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s log from 2 January 2023 after a freedom of information request. The organisation monitors small boats in distress trying to cross the Mediterranean or the Channel. It works with partner organisations to alert maritime emergency rescue services to any dinghies that get into distress.
In January the Guardian revealed French coastguards from the union Solidaires Douanes had accused UK counterparts of putting the lives of 38 passengers on a stricken dinghy at risk by saying they would begin a rescue attempt but then failing to do so, allowing the dinghy to drift back into French waters where the passengers were finally rescued after more than 13 hours at sea.
The internal Maritime and Coastguard Agency log includes several references to the stricken dinghy being in UK waters. One statement says: “Dover coastguard to initiate alert phase as vessel is now in UK search and rescue region.”
An entry later in the day states: “It appears that their dingy [sic] engine has stopped and they are drifting back into French waters.”
The dinghy was being monitored in the Channel by the French coastguard boat Kermorvan.
The internal Maritime and Coastguard Agency log has come to light as the Observer revealed that at least 440 people appear to have been abandoned in November 2021 just before the worst mass drowning in the Channel later that month, when at least 27 people lost their lives. Records show that several distress calls earlier in November 2021 were closed down without rescues being initiated. Instead, the dinghies were left to drift.
Solidaires Douanes, one of several unions representing French coastguards – some of whom were on the Kermorvan on 2 January – issued a statement condemning the UK authorities for failing to rescue the dinghy having previously given an undertaking to the French coastguard to do so. Union sources said in January they had never encountered such a situation before.
According to the statement posted by Solidaires Douanes, the incident was “a tragedy that was narrowly avoided”.
All 38 on board survived although they were cold, wet and fatigued when they were rescued by the French coastguard. One person was taken to hospital with hypothermia.
In April 2022 it was confirmed that a Channel pushbacks policy announced by then home secretary, Priti Patel, had been abandoned.
However a spokesperson for Alarm Phone said that while the pushbacks policy had been abandoned there was a “drift-back” policy instead, turning the Channel into an “immigration enforcement pen”. The organisation accused the UK authorities of “tactical inaction”.
“‘Drift-back’ tactics are regularly used,” the spokesperson added. “Delegating the violence of forcing people back across the border to the sea and the wind provides perpetrators with a modicum of deniability compared [with] naked push-or pull-backs.”
Ministry of Defence and Maritime and Coastguard Agency have been approached for comment.
