Investigation launched into UK emergency response to migrant boat tragedy that claimed four lives

Fishing vessel came across drowning people by chance after passengers on sinking dinghy begged authorities for help

Police forensic officers at the RNLI station at the Port of Dover following the disaster on 14 November last year (PA Wire)

Britain’s emergency response to a migrant boat disaster that claimed at least four lives is under investigation by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB).

The death toll in December’s sinking has still not been confirmed because the agency has not yet established the number of passengers in the dinghy when it left France.

A spokesperson said: “The MAIB has launched an investigation into the sinking of a migrant boat in UK waters while it was attempting to cross the English Channel on 14 December 2022, resulting in four confirmed fatalities.

“The focus of the investigation will be on the UK’s emergency response. The mechanism for the foundering [sinking] of the small boat will also be explored.”

Questions had been raised over the speed of the response to distress calls by migrants on board the dinghy, who included teenagers and unaccompanied children.

A charity had initially alerted the French coastguard, after receiving a voice note from a passenger saying: “We are in a boat, we have a problem. Please help us. There are children and families in the boat, water is coming in from the back. We are in the water.”

French authorities said they quickly established that the dinghy was passing into British waters, contacted the Dover Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre and “gave full support and assistance to the British authorities”.

Officials estimated that the boat crossed into British waters shortly after 2.30am, around half an hour before a passing fishing vessel came across the sinking dinghy and started pulling people to safety.

Its captain told how he looked overboard to see “people in the water everywhere, screaming”, and his crew scrambled to save as many people as they could.

Speaking immediately after the disaster, RNLI official Simon Ling said lifeboats arrived shortly afterwards but “the fishing boat and the actions of its crew undoubtedly saved countless lives.”

Immediately following the incident, the British government said the UK’s search and rescue operation began at 2.16am but confirmed that the first vessel on the scene was the fishing crew, who arrived shortly after 3am.

“In the following hours, a total of 43 people were recovered from the water – 39 people were rescued alive but four sadly died,” a statement added.

“Our thoughts are with those affected by this tragic incident and with the families of those who have lost their lives.”

The disaster came little over a year after the deadliest small boat disaster yet claimed at least 27 lives in November 2021.

The government has been accused of putting more lives at risk by failing to set up more safe and legal routes for asylum seekers to reach the UK, following successive years of rising small boat crossings.