Teenager made harrowing call for rescue in deadliest English Channel crossing tragedy

Inquiry into incident that left at least 26 dead heard how despite repeated distress calls from migrants on board, 'no one came to their rescue'

The funeral of three migrants who died in the English Channel in November 2021, taking place in Ranya, in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region. Getty Images

An Iraqi-Kurdish boy phoned coastguards to warn that everyone on board a small boat crossing the English Channel would die as it began to sink, an inquiry into the tragedy was told on Monday.

Mubin Rizghar Hussein, 16, known to be one of the victims, made the harrowing call as the flimsy boat carrying more than two dozen migrants from northern France towards the UK took on water in the early hours.

His account of what happened formed part of the opening of the Cranston Inquiry into what has been the largest single loss of life since migrants began crossing the Channel in small boats in 2018.

The names of the 26 people confirmed dead and the four who remain missing were read out on Monday. Another body was found but their identity has not been confirmed.

The inquiry heard no one can be certain how many people were on board the boat on the night of November 24, 2021 but French authorities believe it was 33, including 13 women and eight children.

As the inquiry opened, No 10 Downing Street insisted the British government was taking action to curb similar Channel crossings, addressing the “chaos” in the asylum system and stepping up returns of people with no legal right to be in the UK, but added there are “no quick fixes” to the global problem of illegal migration.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We’re taking the measures that will ultimately deter and smash people-smuggling gangs that have been plying this illegal trade. We’re extending a deal with France to step up our work with the French to further smash the gangs and stop the small boat crossings.”

Figures published on Monday indicated that 592 migrants arrived on March 2 in 11 boats, the highest number of arrivals on a single day so far this year.

It takes the total number of illegal cross-Channel arrivals this year to 2,716, which is 20 per cent higher than at the same point last year.

The inquiry, chaired by former judge and academic Sir Ross Cranston, will look at what happened on the night in question and what lessons can be learnt from the search-and-rescue operation.

Rory Phillips KC, counsel to the inquiry, said one of two known survivors, Issa Mohamed Omar, saw 15 people clinging to the overturned boat when the sun rose, and he recalled a mother screaming, searching for her lost children.

Mr Phillips said the horror of what Mr Omar had seen was “unimaginable” and he set off swimming for hours. A French fishing boat found the first bodies floating in the water shortly after midday, 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.”

A report from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch, released in 2023, found that the rescue response was hindered by confusion, lack of resources and poor communication between the UK and France.

Mr Phillips said the migrants had gathered in the dark on a beach near Dunkirk after trekking for about two hours. “They had left their home countries for a variety of different reasons but were united in their desperation to reach the United Kingdom,” he said.

The migrants “paid thousands of pounds” to criminal gangs “who promised them safe passage” but “instead they were about to embark on a harrowing journey, with more than 30 people crammed into a boat with a safe capacity for far fewer than that”.

By about 10pm the boat had been fully inflated and dragged into the water on the French coast, while the people smugglers themselves remained on the beach.

The women and children were directed to sit on the floor of the boat, while the men perched on the inflated sides. Those on board were wearing what the smugglers called a life jacket but these were merely “vests stuffed with cotton or other fabric and with strips of reflective material on the sides”.

Three hours into the journey “the boat began to take on a significant amount of water and became swamped” and those on board tried frantically to bail out water, “as panicked calls were made for help” at about 1.30am. The incident was given the reference "Charlie".

The French transferred a “harrowing call” from Mr Hussein to the UK Coastguard and spoke for 20 minutes, during which time he was able to give co-ordinates from his phone.

“Around 2.30am, the 16 year old made another desperate plea for help,” said Mr Phillips. “He said to the coastguard that the passengers were finished and that they would all die.”

He was told help was on its way and to stop calling. A Border Force vessel, the Valiant, was sent out but it was not until shortly before 3.30am that it arrived at the boat's last known location, by which time it had drifted away. A helicopter operating that night also failed to find the boat and was stood down.

Mr Phillips said: "At the time when the Valiant was cleared from incident Charlie, when she returned to Dover, and when the helicopter returned to base, the incident was marked as resolved and closed – 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 said an expert who submitted evidence to the inquiry believed most of the migrants who survived the swamping of the boat and entering the water had still been alive at this point.

“As the hours passed and no help arrived, one by one, the passengers succumbed to exhaustion and hypothermia," he said. "Dawn came around 7am one of the survivors had told the inquiry that when the sun rose over the water, there were about 15 people still clinging to the remains of the boat.

“The bodies of their fellow passengers were floating around them. He recalled a mother screaming as she searched for her children.”

The inquiry comes as a report by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch published in November 2023 said the UK’s search-and-rescue response was hampered by the lack of a dedicated aircraft carrying out aerial surveillance.