An inquiry into the deadliest Channel crossing in history has heard that, despite multiple distress calls from people on board the boat, “no-one came to their rescue”.
An independent probe has vowed to find out the truth of what happened when an inflatable boat, thought to be carrying at least 33 people, capsized in November 2021.
The names of 26 people confirmed dead and four people missing were read out as the inquiry opened on Monday. Another body was found but never identified.
French authorities believe 33 people were on board – including 13 women and eight children.
There may also have been other small children who did not appear on the list of the missing, the inquiry said. There were two survivors.
In the opening statement from the inquiry led by Sir Ross Cranston, Rory Phillips KC said one of the important questions about the “terrible human tragedy” is why passengers were left in the water for more than 12 hours after distress calls to UK authorities were made.
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The first distress call was received from a 16-year-old Iraqi Kurdish boy, Mubin Rizghar Hussein – who told the operator “everything was finished” in the “harrowing” call at around 1.30am on 24 November 2021.
The boy, who is known to be one of the victims, called again at 2.30am and said everyone on board would die. He was told to stop calling and that help was on its way.
A Border Force vessel, Valiant, was operating search and rescues in UK waters that night but it did not leave until 2.22am and took an hour to get to the last known location of the migrant boat, known as “Charlie”.
It did not find Charlie and mistakenly recorded another boat it attended as the vessel despite the fact it “bore no resemblance” to the sinking incident described on the calls.
A helicopter was also in operation that night. It did not find Charlie and was stood down.
When Valiant returned to Dover and the helicopter returned to its base, “the incident was marked as resolved and closed”, Mr Phillips said.
“At the time… all those times human beings who had been on board the sinking small boat were in the water and the vast majority were drowning,” he continued.
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Another distress call made at 3.11am may be the last received from the incident. Mr Phillips said there was no attempt to receive an updated position from the caller.
At around 12.30pm, the first bodies were found floating in the water by a French fishing boat, the inquiry heard.
“It is said one of the victims died just half an hour before rescue,” Mr Phillips said. “The question if loss of life was avoidable is not an academic one in this case.”
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A report from a cold water expert concluded while some people may have drowned immediately, it is likely the majority of victims died over a long period.
Most drowned when they could no longer hold on to the wreckage, through loss of consciousness or cardiac arrest due to hypothermia, Professor Michael Tipton said.
The inquiry continues.
