Neither the British nor the French coastguards made a serious attempt to save those on the boat
At least 27 refugees died on 24 November 2021 in the worst mass drowning in the English Channel on record. An inquiry found this week that the deaths were “avoidable”—and the failings that caused it “systematic in nature”.
The findings of the Cranston Inquiry show that the British state has blood on its hands.
At least 33 people set out in a small boat from France on the evening of 23 November 2021. Only two survived.
The report sets out in detail the events of that night and morning. Those on the boat had paid smugglers thousands of pounds to be on the boat and had been assured safe passage. They were searching for a better life, family reunion and to escape political violence.
At one point, water began to enter the boat. People tried and failed to bail out the water that was flowing in. They made phone calls for help, including to the British coastguard.
The coastguard was notified just after 1am on 24 November that those on board needed help.
A 16 year-old spoke to the coastguard for 20 minutes, saying they were “in the water” and cried for assistance. Coordinates were sent to the coastguard.
More desperate calls were made and messages sent from those on the boat—some of which the coastguard missed entirely. At one point, the dinghy capsized.
The coastguard issued a “mayday” broadcast. A nearby French navy boat, the Flamant, being used at the time by the French coastguard, failed to respond. It was 15 minutes away from the coordinates.
Criminal proceedings have been brought against the boat in France—the inquiry found that if it had responded, all the deaths could have been avoided.
At around 1.30am, the coastguard tasked a British Border Force boat, the Valiant, to investigate. The Valiant didn’t leave the port of Dover until 2.22am. It took another hour to reach the last known location of the small boat.
By the time the Valiant arrived, the boat had drifted elsewhere. The sun rose at around 7am. Some people were still clinging to what remained of the small boat.
Between 3.30am and 7.20am, the Valiant located three small boats—none of which matched the levels of distress heard from the dinghy—referred to in the report as Incident Charlie. The Valiant then ended its search.
The bodies of others floated around them. One survivor, Issa, remembers a mother screaming as she searched for her child.
At this stage, “No one in the UK was looking for the small boat, and no one came to its rescue,” Cranston said.
At around 12.30pm, on 24 November, a French fishing boat found bodies floating in the water. The coastguard was notified of this at around 1pm—nearly 12 hours after they had first received calls for help.
The report found that those on board “who survived cold water shock when entering the water would have eventually drowned when they could no longer hold onto the buoyant remains of the small boat”.
“That was as a result either of physical incapacitation due to cooling of their hands, arms and legs, loss of consciousness, or of cardiac arrest due to hypothermia.
“Therefore, it’s likely that the majority were still alive when the Border Force vessel Valiant arrived at the Mayday relay position at around 3.24 am on 24 November 2021.”
And some “were still alive at sunrise at about 7am that day, although they would have died between then and the time of rescue in the early afternoon that day”.
There were chronic staff shortages at the coastguard, an issue that had been repeatedly flagged internally prior to the mass drowning.
And disgustingly, there was a widespread belief within the coastguard that people calling for help on small boats “exaggerated distress”.
Cranston said, “These were known about for some time, but no effective action had been taken to alleviate them. This represents a significant, systemic failure on the part of government.”
Cranston concluded, “The practice of small boat crossings must end” as “it’s imperative to prevent further loss of life”. “Travelling on board a small, unseaworthy and overcrowded boat and crossing one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world is an inherently dangerous activity,” he said.
Refugees are forced to use small boats and rely on people smugglers because of the British state’s and European Union’s racist border rules.
Every time they ramp up repression at the border, it only forces refugees to take every more dangerous routes.
The only way to stop more deaths is to give safe and legal routes for refugees who want to find safety in Britain.
Every time a politician, whether from Reform UK or Labour, talks about cracking down on small boats, think of this story. Social murder is the real impact of denying refugees safe passage to Britain.
Racism first developed as a justification for enslavement
