Another packed migrant mega-dinghy with more than 60 migrants has been spotted heading to Britain from Normandy, accompanied by a full French safety escort. The Mail has more.
An overcrowded mega-dinghy carrying more than 60 migrants has spent more than 30 hours in the Channel en route to England after setting off from Normandy with a full escort.
The oversized inflatable cast off from Port-en-Bessin, near Bayeux, at about 10am on Monday carrying an estimated 50 people.
Ouest France reported that another 11 people boarded the boat at Cote Fleurie, 30 miles east along the coast, at 6pm yesterday before heading into the Channel.
Under the authority of the French maritime prefecture, four lifeboats from the Société Nationale de Sauvetage en Mer – France‘s answer to the RNLI – were dispatched to monitor the boats alongside the tugboat Abeille Liberté.
More than 24 hours later, the boat has been sitting at the heart of the Channel with the French tug following behind – and a pair of RNLI lifeboats from Hastings and Eastbourne seemingly on their way to meet it. They were launched shortly after 11am.
Daniel Thomas, the hard-Right anti-migrant activist who calls himself ‘Danny Tommo’ online, said on social media he was heading into the Channel to find the boat.
A spokesman for the French maritime prefecture told the Daily Mail today: “This dinghy is monitored by assets coordinated by MRCC Gris-Nez within its search and rescue region, as part of its search and rescue mission and in response to the obligations of international law and the law of the sea.”
The RNLI – whose volunteers have faced abuse after rescuing migrants – confirmed to the Mail its boats had been tasked at the request of HM Coastguard.
And the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency said the migrants would be transferred to Border Security Command.
French authorities provide full escorts to dinghies setting off from Normandy because the voyage to the UK is far longer than it is from traditional launch beaches around Calais and Dunkirk – as much as 100 miles, four times that from Dover to Calais.
A spokesman for local rescue services said of the migrant dinghy: “The boat was in a very bad way, and very low in the water, with just a single small outboard motor to power it.
“The sea was calm, and weather conditions were good, but the decision was taken to escort the boat, without intervening.”
UK authorities are understood to be monitoring the dinghy, and have plans to deal with arrivals further along the coast.
A Government spokesperson said: “The Border Security Command works around the clock to protect our border and will continue to detain, check and process every small boat arrival.”
A Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesperson said this afternoon: “HM Coastguard is responding to a report of a small boat in the Channel, south of the UK central south coast.
“Rescue vessels have been sent, supported by an HM Coastguard aeroplane, to collect the people and safely transfer them to UK Border Force.”
If the French can escort the migrants to England, why don’t they just escort them back to France?
Worth reading in full.
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Un phuckin’ real. There are no words sufficiently adequate to describe this criminal idiocy in full. The government, the relevant branches of the civil service ……….. how can these people look at themselves in the mirror each morning without dissolving in complete embarrassment ??
Traditional??
Why don’t the lifeboat crews refuse to act as escorts when they French are on hand if the illegals actually need rescuing?
If they stuck to just been brave heroes who risked their lives rescuing people who genuinely need assistance they wouldn’t get “vile abuse” online or in person.
Some public comments from the Daily Mail:
—” Quoting maritime law? The vessel is overloaded and not seaworthy so therefore should be stopped and returned to port. Allowing it to continue is actually in breach of maritime law. At least we know who the traffickers really are now, the French and UK governments enabling these illegal crossings.”
—” Every boat that leaves French shores needs to be registered, especially for seaworthiness. It’s Maritime Law. It’s the same as all cars need to be registered. Every Government knows this. The French Border Control can halt the boat on the beach, or the shoreline (even without passengers in it) and ask to see the vessels registration documents. The boat handler won’t have any documentation, so Border Control or the Police can impound the boat immediately. Britain does not have the guts to take France to court over this.”
—” Are not the French breaking international maritime law by knowingly allowing unseaworthy boats to operate carrying fare paying passengers with no named qualified person in charge and no licences to set off from their shores. Is it not true that if we allowed them to land directly off of their boats we could… Read more »
“A Government spokesperson said: “The Border Security Command works around the clock to protect our border and will continue to detain, check and process every small boat arrival.”
Gas lighting worthy of a Gold medal, if thats what they call protecting the border, then we wasted a hell of a lot of money in WW11 as Churchill could have just adopted the same rules as todays Border security command, no doubt that would have stopped the Germans in their tracks and saved the country millions of pound and millions of lives.
Whoever that Spokesman is there is some village looking for its idiot.
Why does anybody who is against this invasion have to be called Hard Right? (I know you’re just quoting the Daily Mail article).