UK abandoned migrant boat in distress, says French coastguard

FRENCH coastguards accused British Channel rescue services of abandoning a small boat carrying 38 migrants in distress.

Coastguards from the union Solidaires Douanes claimed the UK had said it would rescue the boat when it entered UK waters but failed to do so, leaving the craft to drift back into the French part of the channel.

They said the migrants, “exhausted, afraid and frozen”, were rescued by the French after their engine failed and were taken back to France.

The incident is said to have happened on Jan 2 with the dinghy reaching the UK part of the Channel at about 5.30pm French time before the migrants were rescued at 9pm.

British sources, however, dispute the account, saying the boat never entered UK waters and there was not a risk to life as it was being shadowed by a French vessel, the Kermorvan, a coastguard boat.

The source said the British rescue services had been in contact with the French authorities throughout the incident, and British vessels in the area were on standby in case they were needed if the situation deteriorated.

They noted that it was a union, rather than official French authorities, making the claims.

The incident shows how small boats are shepherded by the French to the midpoint of the Channel before a handover to the British – although, in this case, there appears to have been a breakdown in communications.

Rémi Vandeplanque, a French coastguard involved in the rescue operation, said they had started shadowing the boat when it was in French waters and then followed it as it entered UK waters. It had set off from Gravelines, which is north of Calais early in the morning, filled with male migrants and one woman, believed to be from Iran, Yemen and west Africa.

Mr Vandeplanque said they spoke to the UK Border Force vessel Typhoon on the VHF radio, and claimed that the UK agreed to take over the rescue.

He said: “I am 100 per cent sure because I was personally on the bridge of the boat when the radio exchange with the Typhoon took place and heard them say that they couldn’t take the migrants on board because they didn’t have room but that another British boat was on its way to help them.

“Their precise position is impossible to prove because we’re talking about a small boat with no beacon, they are too small to be picked up by radar, but I can assure they had entered UK waters.”