LONDON: An inflatable migrant boat that capsized in the Channel causing at least 27 people to drown was “unsuitable and ill-equipped”, British investigators said in a new report published on Thursday.
The small boat, carrying mainly Iraqi Kurds, capsized on November 24, 2021, in the worst such disaster in recent times.
A report by the UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) said that the dinghy was attempting to cross from France to England when it became flooded and partially sank, causing those on board to fall into the cold water.
At least 27 people drowned, including a pregnant woman and three children, and their bodies were later recovered in French waters.
Two people survived and four remain missing.
The only way those onboard could raise the alarm was via mobile phone, with the UK coastguard receiving distress calls from “multiple boats” around the same time, said the report.
This made it “extremely challenging” to locate and identify individual boats, it added.
The UK’s response was also hampered by a lack of dedicated aircraft carrying out aerial surveillance, it added.
The MAIB recommended the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and Border Force develop procedures to ensure “effective surveillance” of the Channel when aircraft are unavailable.
“This was a tragic accident in which many lives were lost,“ said Andrew Moll, chief inspector of marine accidents.
“The events of November 24 2021 were complex with multiple inflatable boats that were unsuitable and ill-equipped for the journey attempting to cross the Dover Strait to England,“ he added.
The UK government has made stopping small boat crossings one of its main priorities, but 26,699 migrants have arrived by this method so far this year, according to the latest figures.
More than 100,000 migrants have crossed the Channel since Britain began recording the arrivals in 2018, the country said in August.
A man arrested in connection with the 2021 drowning and said to be a “significant member of the organised crime group” behind the ill-fated crossing was extradited from Britain to France in July to face trial.
France in May charged five military personnel for allegedly failing to come to the rescue of the stricken craft when it sent out distress calls.
It has already charged a number of people-smugglers over the tragedy. –AFP
