Stand off drowning migrants and report – or face prosecution, sailors warned

I can’t even begin to imagine how cold those people feel when they’re in the dinghy. They have to wade out to get in the boat, and are therefore beginning their journey wet up to their knees. I would be terrified, I hate small boats.

Secondly, not all applicants would be granted asylum so the unsuccessful ones would still try to get here illegally.

If the Home Office were fit for purpose one would assume that they would be swiftly repatriated, not left at large to try to cross the channel.

Sorry, HLL, cross post!

Regarding banning the sale of inflatables etc. Where would they ban them, in what locations? Because the traffickers could just bring them in hidden on trucks. Clue's in the title. Inflatables.

So why not accept the UK’s offer to help patrol the beaches * Mokryna* ? Obviously it won’t solve the problem completely but any additional help that will prevent another tragedy like this one happening has got to be worth it surely?

Someone on Jeremy Vine just now spoke about this. How would we feel if we had French policemen or troops patrolling British beaches? Or flying drones over them?

On a much smaller scale , we could help by donating to the Refugee Council to provide a few comforts for those newly arrived with very little. I have just sent a very modest sum to purchase some warm clothes and a few toys..

vegansrock

Surely there should be a British processing centre in France where potential migrants could apply for settlement in the U.K. Then there wouldn’t be this necessity to take risks travelling. At the moment they can’t apply till they are on British soil. This would mean cooperating with France though.

Just listening to Jeremy Vine where they’re discussing this question. First of all France have to agree to having our Border Force operating in their country. Secondly, not all applicants would be granted asylum so the unsuccessful ones would still try to get here illegally.
Perhaps it might be a start to ban the sale of inflatables, canoes, dinghies, jet skis etc. Not going to happen is it.

What is needed here is for someone either an owner of a private vessel or a lifeboat crew to rescue someone and if proseceuted to have all court expenses paid by some right minded citizen or firm that can afford to be charitable.

The rest of us need to start writing to the newspapers, politicians and clergy protesting about this state of affairs, if indeed it is true that seamen rescuing others at sea risk prosecution.

I find it hard to believe that anyone would issue the kind of warnings mentioned here, but assume OP is sure of the facts.

Certainly, none of us who call ourselves decent people and honestly try to be decent can just accept this kind of thing.

That said, it is unbelievably stupid to try to cross the English Channel at this time of year in what looked from the press photo I saw like a rubber dingy. I realise these people are desperate, but common sense should still have prevented this, though drowning is a dreadful result of stupidity.

1 month to Christmas - a time of peace and goodwill we are told by good Christians.

Bah!humbug!

Gwyneth

So why not accept the UK’s offer to help patrol the beaches * Mokryna* ? Obviously it won’t solve the problem completely but any additional help that will prevent another tragedy like this one happening has got to be worth it surely?

We could ask why doesn’t the UK run ferries and accept these people in the UK to deal with the applicants, of which normally ninety-eight per cent (said on the UK tv) are accepted, instead of making them traverse the dangerous English Channel.

A bit more from the article in The Local.

"The “Calais problem” cannot be solved in Calais because it is not a Calais problem. It is a small part of a European, or world, problem of displacement of peoples by war or famine or misery, which has no simple solution either.
It is time (some hope) for the British public and British media and British political class to face a few simple facts.
The notion that Britain is being “swamped” (grotesque word after what happened yesterday) by illegal migration is nonsense. In the last couple of years, the numbers of asylum seekers/ refugees/ illegal migrants reaching Britain has reduced, not increased.
It has reduced because France – working on Britain’s behalf – has blocked the routes by which the migrants once crossed the Channel, by ship or tunnel, truck or train.
Hence, the beginning of the small boat “invasion” three years ago, rising to a crescendo with 25,000 successful crossings this year. To which should be added an estimated 50,000 crossings blocked by the French and, now, miserably, at least 40 drownings since the start of 2021."

Michael Rosen ????
@MichaelRosenYes
·
3h
Politicians puffing themselves up by talking about ‘criminal gangs’, as if that’s the ethical way of dealing with a refugee crisis. The ethical way to deal with refugees is to help them.

Here here

These people are choosing for whatever reason to seek asylum in the U.K..

They are perfectly entitled to do so under international law.

I have just been watching the French lunchtime news. Interviews with people in the street in Calais, deeply upset by the tragedy. Lots of film of gendarmes helping people on to coaches to be taken to refuges elsewhere in France.
Does any of this get on the UK news?

maisiebon

I cannot believe the French don't know who is selling these boats and who is buying them, they really are turning a blind eye and really don't care as long as they get rid of the migrants

They take more than we do so it is wrong to say they don't care as long as they get rid of the migrants.

babspanky

Of course I would not watch someone drown whoever they were .
I do notice though that a lot of people are calling the immigrants asylum seekers. They are not asylum seekers, they are illegal immigrants. France is not a war zone.

No they are asylum seekers, and asylum seekers are NOT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.

They are entitled, under international law to seek asylum in a country of their own choice.

Gwyneth

So why not accept the UK’s offer to help patrol the beaches * Mokryna* ? Obviously it won’t solve the problem completely but any additional help that will prevent another tragedy like this one happening has got to be worth it surely?

Or maybe the UK could offer to take a fair share of asylum seekers?

maddyone

I’m not sure what you’re saying Alegrias. What I’m saying is that far fewer asylum seekers come to the UK now than did previously, and therefore we should be able to accommodate them. Of course asylum seekers used many routes to come into the country in the past, and therefore I’m not sure why they choose to come using an unsafe route today. There are surely safer routes. I don’t think the EU had/have anything to do with it, although I do wonder how French police can just watch people setting off, including children, using just about the most unsafe route available.

I saw film yesterday of lots of people being loaded onto boats. I assume the people organising it were the criminal gang members.

A car with what looked like two policemen were watching. Do you really think they'd stand any chance if these gangs are as ruthless as we are told they are? Apparently they called for back up i.e. more manpower, but it didn't arrive until the boats had left.

I imagine France has a finite number of police officers and they can't all being on every beach in sufficient numbers to tackle these people.

I think that is why we see French police watching as it is all they can do.

Whitewavemark2

You know last evening, I could no longer post on this thread because I was so profoundly upset at some of the callous, inhumane posts that utterly lacked empathy if any kind.

We are better than this!

and me. If I had posted what I really thought about some of the posts ( and the posters) I would probably have been banned from GN. It is very troubling to read posts on FB and such and realise that you really don't like a lot of people you share a country and a nationality with.

Isn't there a difference in rescuing someone who is drowning or in imminent danger of drowning to those who are at risk. Very subtle difference. To me anyone on one of those inflatable beds you see at the seaside is at risk but no-one rushes to pull them out. Terrible what happened yesterday though especially if officials watched the whole affair before they even took to the water.

An excellent post - I agree entirely.

Coastpath

I wish we could calmly, amicably and sensibly work together with other countries to resolve this. We need to stop people dying in the channel and end all crime linked to people trafficking without delay.

Surely it is possible - essential - for our governments to work together to devise a plan. We need a workable plan as climate change will mean more people leaving their homelands and seeking refuge here.

We need workers. These people need safe homes, some need to be near family. The RNLI does not need to risk their lives.

People like Nigel Farage whip up hatred and spread misinformation and do nothing to resolve the situation. As an MEP he had years to help resolve this and he did nothing. If people in small boats coming to the UK meant so much to him there was his chance to make a positive change - to do something constructive and positive with his one life. He did nothing about it.

I am happy to pay for this government collaboration and the making of a plan. I am happy to pay for the ethical and legal care of asylum seekers from my taxes. I think this is exactly the sort of thing I pay taxes for. When asylum seekers become UK workers they will most likely pay more into the tax system than I do. They will pay for the next group of desperate people who come to our country to work, raise children and enjoy the safety and benefits we have. They might well end up caring for me when I am unable to do so myself in future.

??????

So why not accept the UK’s offer to help patrol the beaches * Mokryna* ? Obviously it won’t solve the problem completely but any additional help that will prevent another tragedy like this one happening has got to be worth it surely?

Thank you Mamie for your post. I heard something very similar on Today this morning.
The problem here is that the whole issue has been aggravated by the overblown claims of some newspapers fed by the likes of Nigel Farage, often to try to manipulate Joe Public to vote in a certain way .

Sarnia

Europe and France, in particular, have their knickers in a twist over Brexit and although they are happy to pocket our £54m to stop migrant boats, do nothing to stop them. Incapacitating their boats would be a start but they clearly do not want the migrants in their own country so make no attempt to stop the boats setting out to sea. Out of sight, out of mind. Goodness knows what the answer is but Britain seems out of ideas on how to deal with this major problem.

But they have not receive this money. Moreover, these people are using the ninety kilometers of coast line, that is to say if the police are in one area they set off in another. How many police should be on duty twenty- four hours a day seven days a week?

Police have already arrested people traffickers .

I doubt any jury would convict a British or other sailor, professional, amateur or volunteer, for rescuing a drowning person at sea but we should not put sailors at legal risk in any case. This clause is another example of Patel flailing around. When will people realise that immigrants, especially young ones, are necessary to the economic future of the UK whether they are refugees or economic migrants? It's time to break up the Home Office and reset our attitudes. If legal measures are needed they should be directed at the criminal gangs, not sailors risking their own lives and freedom to rescue those in peril on the sea.