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A coroner has recorded conclusions of unlawful killings at the inquests of three migrants who died when their small boat sank attempting to cross the English Channel.
The tragedy happened when a dinghy sailing from France to Kent sank after its flooring separated from the main boat.
The inquest heard how the occupants frantically bailed out water from the sinking vessel.
A fishing boat came across the dinghy, crammed with 44 people. It began taking on the occupants just before a full rescue was launched by coastguards and lifeboat crews.
Patricia Harding, senior coroner for Kent, said at the inquest today: "This was a tragic incident that should not have occurred."
The dinghy sank off the coast of Dungeness in the early hours of December 14, 2022 in freezing conditions.
Thirty-nine people survived and were rescued, most of them boarding the private fishing boat Arcturus.
One migrant has never been found and the four who died were young men.
The inquest, at Oakwood House in Maidstone, heard all four died from conditions consistent with drowning.
The freezing water may have been a contributory factor.
Two were single men and students from Guinea, Moussa Kouyae, 18, and Mohamad Lamine Toure, born in 1995.
His exact date of birth is not so far confirmed. The third was a man who remains completely unidentified including in age and nationality.
The unlawful killing verdicts were given for these three.
The fourth victim was Herjratullah Ahmadi, from Kabul in Afghanistan.
The conclusion of his case had already been covered by the trial of the boat's pilot, Ibrahima Bah, last February.
Bah, now aged 21, was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years’ detention at Canterbury Crown Court on charges such as manslaughter.
Ms Harding said today: “These four people who were part of the small boat migration found their way on to the boat which literally fell apart at the seams and began to take on water, and thereafter sank and they tragically drowned.
“I have heard the boat had 44 people on board, it’s remarkable that 39 were saved by the good efforts of those on the fishing vessel and the lifeboat services who quickly attended.”