Small boat migrants could have been saved in Channel disaster which claimed more than 30 lives, inquiry finds

The loss of life in a small boat disaster in 2021 was ‘avoidable’, an official investigation has found, calling for an ‘end’ to Channel crossings.

Inquiry chairman Sir Ross Cranston described the incident as an ‘immeasurable human tragedy’.

In November 2021, 27 men, women and children lost their lives in the disaster on the Canal, the worst in 30 years, while four others were missing.

The victims included four members of an Iraqi family; seven-year-old Hasti Hussein, her 16-year-old brother Mubin, 22-year-old sister Hadiya and their 46-year-old mother Kazhal.

Sir Ross said: ‘The practice of small craft crossings must end.

‘It is imperative to prevent further loss of life from other causes.

‘Traveling in a small, unseaworthy and overcrowded boat and traversing one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes is an inherently dangerous activity.’

He added: ‘People smugglers sent an unseaworthy and overcrowded small boat off the coast of France.

‘They had paid thousands of pounds to people smugglers for their place on the boat and were guaranteed safe passage to the UK.

‘Only two of those on board will survive the voyage.’

The investigation confirmed the findings of an earlier investigation that a number of errors had been made in the search and rescue response.

This included errors by HM Coastguard and the French Navy ship Flamant ‘failing to respond to HM Coastguard’s Mayday broadcast about the small boat’s plight despite being nearby at the time’.

Flamant was the government ship closest to the scene of the capsized 25ft boat, codenamed ‘Charlie’, in the botched rescue operation.

Sir Ross Cranston makes a statement after the report examining the tragedy is broadcast on the Channel in November 2021

The actions of the Flamant crew are subject to an ongoing French criminal investigation.

A previous report into the disaster, published in 2023 by the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), concluded that British rescue teams had abandoned the search for drowning migrants whose final distress calls went unanswered by the Coastguard.

During the search and rescue operation, the UK Border Force’s Valiant located another migrant boat, mistakenly thought to be a distressed boat, and further searches were halted.

The immigrants on the capsized ship remained in the water until the next day; some survived for hours despite icy conditions; until bodies started to be found by a passing merchant ship.

Today’s report said: ‘In November 2021 there was a widespread belief within HM Coastguard that callers from small boats regularly exaggerated their level of distress.

‘This widespread belief negatively affected the search and rescue response to the ‘Charlie’ incident.

‘This is Valiant and R163 [a search and rescue helicopter] He couldn’t find a small boat that sank, and when calls from the ‘Charlie’ incident stopped, [Search and Rescue Mission Co-ordinator] At Dover no serious consideration was given to the alternative scenario in which the people on board were fully submerged.’

The report included the following statements: ‘If sufficient searches had been carried out for survivors, including during daylight hours, on November 24, 2021, more lives could have been saved.’

The inquest heard one of the victims is believed to have died just half an hour before being rescued.

During hearings over four weeks in March last year, the inquest was told how the boat left the French coast shortly after 10pm on November 23 and became a ‘swamp’ about three hours into the journey.

Mhabad Ali Ahmed, a 32-year-old Iraqi who died in the tragedy in November 2021, was a mother of two

Another victim was Halima Muhammed Shikh, a 33-year-old mother of three from Somalia.

Ethiopian Niyat Ferede Yeshiwendim (22) also lost his life

Among the dead was 24-year-old Iraqi Maryam Noori Mohammedameen

Inquiry barrister Rory Phillips KC detailed numerous distress calls made from the boat to authorities but the incident was incorrectly marked as solved and ‘no-one came to their rescue’.

Issa Mohamed Omar, one of two people who survived the tragedy, told how he continued to move to escape the cold water as evidence for the inquest.

Among the dead was 30-year-old Iraqi Shakar Ali Pirot.

Iraqi Muhammed Kader Evla, whose age was stated as ’21’, also lost his life in the tragedy.

‘I would say there were about 10 people still alive in the morning,’ he said.

‘This is a sad experience and I don’t want to remember it.

‘I held on to what was left of the boat all night, in the morning I could hear people screaming, it’s something I won’t forget in my mind.’

Emergency vehicles in the port of Calais after the tragedy on 24 November 2021

Cold water expert Professor Michael Tipton concluded that some on board may have drowned immediately, but the majority of the victims may have died long before search and rescue ships finally arrived.

Today’s report found HM Coastguard was placed in an ‘unbearable situation with chronic staff shortages and limited operational capacity, which directly contributed to the failure to rescue people in the water’.

The majority of the victims were from the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

The crew of the Societe Nationale de Sauvetage en Mer (SNSM) lifeboat threw flowers into the sea on November 24, 2022, to commemorate the men, women and children who died a year ago

There were also Somalis, Ethiopians, Afghans, Egyptians and an Iranian on board, as well as a person thought to be Vietnamese, but whose nationality could not be determined.

The inquiry made 18 recommendations designed to strengthen the UK’s maritime search and rescue operations.

A spokesperson for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said it would carefully consider the report’s findings and recommendations, adding: ‘HM Coastguard remains focused on our vital role in protecting life at sea.’

Transport Minister Heidi Alexander said that the Government will carefully consider the report.