Was French patrol boat at fault for Channel migrant drownings? MPs ask if dinghy was being escorted into British waters before tragedy that saw six die
- Six migrants drowned when their dinghy sank while escorted by French warship
- The incident ended a disastrous week for government’s control of migrant crisis
A French warship was escorting an overloaded small boat across the Channel to UK waters when it sank today, killing at least six migrants, it was claimed tonight.
The PSP Cormoran is understood to have been tracking a number of small boats in rough conditions six miles off the French coast early this morning, according to a well-informed source.
A second French vessel was believed to be close by at the time of the tragedy. One of the small boats capsized as it entered a busy shipping lane and almost 70 people were thrown into the water. Six died and two more are thought to be missing. The presence of the French vessels sparked a furious political row as Tory MPs accused the French authorities of encouraging desperate migrants to attempt the perilous crossing in bad weather.
‘The boat was being escorted towards Britain by a French navy patrol vessel when it capsized,’ the source told The Mail on Sunday. ‘This is a French policy designed to ensure the migrants make it to British waters as safely and quickly as possible.’
Furious MPs tonight questioned why France was not doing more to tackle the crisis, given that the UK is giving the country almost £500 million to help stop the crossings.
SAVED: Migrants whose boat capsized on a French rescue ship today
The RNLI brought 50 survivors into Dover docks this morning
‘We should get that money back,’ one senior Tory MP said.
Today’s incident – the worst loss of life in the Channel since November 2021 when 27 migrants perished – was last night described as a ‘wake-up call’ for Labour and Left-wing lawyers blocking Government plans to solve the small-boats crisis.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘Surely we must do everything to deter them from making that decision and making that perilous crossing. It is a wake-up call for all those who speak only of rights, but seem incapable of balancing those rights against the terrible risks that people are undertaking as they pay their life savings to be shoved on to a boat that is unseaworthy, only to find that it all ends somewhere in the channel.’
Tory MP Marco Longhi, a member of the Home Affairs Committee, added: ‘This terrible tragedy should be a wake-up call to Sir Keir Starmer, Labour and the whole of the Left, that this is what happens when they oppose the Government’s sensible measures to tackle the small-boats crisis.
‘I hope to God that the Labour leader now sees this and changes his obstructionist approach as soon as possible. People’s lives depend on it.’ After another day of tragedy in the Channel, the MoS can reveal:
- Vile traffickers were attempting to lure more migrants to undertake the perilous crossing just hours after the deaths.
- Despite the accident, over 500 migrants crossed the Channel today, making it the fourth busiest day of 2023.
- At least four other boats were escorted into English waters by French warships in the hours after the tragedy, it is claimed.
- The small boats are more crowded than ever, according to a senior Border Force source.
- People smugglers are refusing to give life jackets to some migrants, despite charging up to £5,000 for a seat on one of the packed boats.
The incident ended a disastrous week in which Rishi Sunak had hoped to persuade the public that he was getting on top of the Channel crisis. His efforts were first derailed on Thursday after it emerged the number of people who have crossed the Channel in the past five and a half years had passed an astonishing 100,000.
Paramedics assist a migrant picked up at sea while attempting to cross the English Channel
The P677 Cormoran Flamant-class patrol vessel of the French Navy sails on Calais’ harbour
The Government’s migrant policy then descended into farce the following day when asylum seekers on the Bibby Stockholm barge were evacuated after legionella was found on board.
Tory MP Tom Hunt said tonight: ‘One could think it’s more safe that the French are escorting them.
‘However the net effect is likely to encourage more to attempt the unsafe crossing as it provides a veneer of security. Which, as we’ve seen this week, can tragically count for little.’
Sir Iain branded France’s policy of escorting small boats to British waters as ‘madness’. ‘That acts as an incentive for them to make the crossing and take the risk,’ he said. ‘I think the whole thing encourages them to risk the journey more, which is a mistake – you see what happens when they do that. They end up dying.’
Today’s incident took place off the coast of Sangatte.
The MoS understands that several small boats set off from France despite a forecast of windy and rough sea conditions.
Fisherman Matthew Coker said radar tracking data suggested two French warships were tracking the boats as they headed to English waters. The PSP Cormoran is understood to have been the closer of the two vessels to the boat that sunk, while the PSP Pluvier was further away.
People smuggler video advert for crossing the English Channel, dated August 12
‘Two French boats – both warships – were in that exact area at that time,’ Mr Coker told the MoS. ‘They were escorting boats.’
Early this morning, both warships changed direction and immediately headed to where the small boat is believed to have capsized. French authorities confirmed that the Cormoran rescued 33 survivors, while the Pluvier rescued five. Five migrants – all thought to be Afghan men – died at the scene and their bodies were brought back to Calais. Another Afghan man in his early 20s was airlifted to a hospital in Le Touquet, but was pronounced dead on arrival.
A total of 58 migrants were rescued, with most taken back to Calais, and more than a dozen brought to Dover by British rescuers.
Anne Thorel, a volunteer on a French rescue boat, described the migrants’ frantic efforts to bail water out of their sinking vessel with their shoes. ‘There were too many of them on the boat.’
Another French rescuer, who did not want to be named, said many of the migrants on the boat did not have life jackets. ‘One man was very lucky,’ he said. ‘He was drowning, but the rescuers pulled him into the boat by his neck. He did not have a life jacket.’
A witness in Dover said four ambulances and one paramedic car rushed to the port area where migrants were brought in just after 6.30am. Paramedics put oxygen masks on some of the survivors as they were treated on the quayside.
‘It was distressing to watch,’ he said. ‘I saw a lot of migrants who had their faces and heads covered with blankets. But the ones whose faces I saw, they looked as if they were crying. Even some of the paramedics looked distressed.’
Mr Coker said he regularly saw French naval vessels escorting migrant boats. He said that last Thursday around six migrants fell into the sea just inside English waters after being accompanied by a French vessel named Argonaute.
Instead of rescuing the migrants, the French vessel waited for 20 minutes until an RNLI lifeboat arrived, he claimed.
Mr Coker added that people smugglers did not risk launching boats in rough weather before the French began providing escorts around three years ago.
‘When they were leaving in the dark and they had no escorts they would never, ever have attempted to cross on a day like today. That did not happen.’
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: ‘My thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the tragic loss of life in the Channel today.’ Shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock said the incident was an ‘appalling, deeply shocking tragedy’.
A French navy spokesman declined to comment, saying a criminal inquiry had been opened by the Boulogne prosecutor and Maritime Prefecture.
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