Home   Dover   News   Article

People-smugglers adopting new ploy?

Three asylum seekers after being rescued from a dinghy in the Channel by the Dover lifeboat
Three asylum seekers after being rescued from a dinghy in the Channel by the Dover lifeboat

FEARS are growing that people-smugglers are dropping asylum seekers into the Channel in inflatable dinghies in an attempt to get them to the UK (Graham Tutthill writes).

The suggestion follows the rescue of three more asylum seekers from a small dinghy off Dover on Sunday.

The three were seen paddling towards Dover just after 9am by the captain of the SeaCat Diamant, which was en route from Dover to Calais. At that stage they did not appear to be in any distress.

As they neared the P&O Ferries freight ship European Seaway, which was heading for Dover, the trio signalled for help.

It was too hazardous for the ferry to try to rescue them, so Dover Lifeboat, with coxswain Dave Pascall and six crew on board, were called to the scene, seven and a half miles off Dover.

When they arrived, they found the three men had been picked up by a Dutch yacht Alegria. The lifeboat crew used their inflatable boat to transfer the men to the lifeboat where they were given first aid and warm drinks.

They were brought to Dover where the men requested asylum and were handed over to the police and immigration officials.

It is not thought that the men had paddled all the way across the Channel - the busiest waterway in the world - and this led to suggestions that organised gangs are taking asylum seekers out into the Channel in boats, complete with inflatable dinghies, and dropping them off as close to the English coast as possible, leaving them to paddle to shore.

Because of the flimsy nature of the boats, they are not picked up by the authorities on radar.

Sunday’s rescue was almost identical to one three weeks earlier, also on a Sunday morning, July 6, when three men were rescued from a dinghy about seven miles off the coast.

Close This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.Learn More