French fishing boats and two coastguard helicopters have joined UK Border Force, lifeboats, and a Royal Navy patrol vessel in a tense rescue mission off the Kent coast near Dungeness.
The UK Coastguard scrambled after emergency calls came in shortly before 3 a.m. reporting a migrant boat in trouble.
Several passengers were airlifted from the vessel, though their conditions remain unknown. Air ambulances from Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, plus two land ambulances, rushed to Dover Harbour to assist.
This rescue comes just a day after the Prime Minister rolled out major new measures to halt the surge of small boat crossings and clear the 150,000-strong asylum backlog.
A new Small Boats Operational Command is set to combine Border Force, Military, and National Crime Agency efforts. The plan aims to bring better coordination to tackling the Channel crossing crisis. So far this year, about 45,000 migrants have braved the perilous journey.
The Prime Minister blasted the soaring costs, saying spending £5.5 million a day on asylum seeker hotels “is enough.”
UK and French authorities have long warned about the deadly dangers of crossing the Channel in flimsy inflatables, especially during the unpredictable winter months. Last November, tragedy struck when 27 migrants drowned after their boat capsized mid-Channel.
Originally published by UKNIP.
