RNLI lifeboat crews saved lives of 108 migrants in Channel last year

RNLI lifeboat crews saved the lives of more than 100 migrants making the ‘perilous’ English Channel crossing last year, the charity has revealed.

It has never published figures on migrant crossings before, but chief executive Mark Dowie said they ‘illustrate clearly that our work in the Channel is genuinely lifesaving’.

The RNLI, which has previously been accused of operating a ‘migrant taxi service’ with its rescues, said it had saved 108 men, women and children who had piled onto makeshift vessels.

Mr Dowie said the charity is ‘unashamed and makes no apology for staying committed to and focused on the purpose we were created for, nearly 200 years ago – to save lives at sea’.

Migrant rescues were launched in the Channel 290 times during 2022 – 3% of the 9,312 total nationwide, which saved 506 lives.

Head of lifeboats Simon Ling said: ‘This crossing and this rescue demand is very, very dangerous and the fact we have saved 108 lives just shows how perilous this journey is.

‘Men, women and children getting into overcrowded dinghies crossing one of the most treacherous shipping channels anywhere in the world.’

He added: ‘This type of rescue is very challenging for a number of reasons, be that the number of casualties, the level of trauma that these casualties present.’

Speaking last year, he said: ‘We often see women and children huddling in the middle of the boats, men sitting on the side, very little space between the top of the dinghy and the water, so there’s an omnipresent risk of the boat being compromised, putting everybody in the water.

‘It’s very chaotic, with screaming and panic, mothers holding up babies and, in some cases, throwing the babies at our lifeboat crew to catch, such is the level of distress.’

The charity has brought in translation cards to aid communication with people from a variety of countries as well as new equipment to assist in its rescues including inflatable horseshoe life rings.

And it is developing a ‘game-changing’ inflatable platform known as sea stairs which can help speed up the recovery of large numbers of people from the water on to an all-weather lifeboat.

Mr Ling said: ‘The new equipment and procedures may have been developed for use in mass casualty scenarios in the Channel, but they have potentially widespread lifesaving application across the RNLI – and worldwide – for responding to any incident involving large numbers of casualties, such as a passenger ferry which is sinking or on fire.’

So far in 2023, 8,858 people have made the crossing with the highest number to date this year – 616 – being picked up from 12 boats on Sunday, June 11.

In November 2021, 31 people died while trying to cross the Channel in a dinghy.

Mr Dowie said: ‘We are extremely proud of all our volunteer lifeboat crews throughout the UK, Ireland and Channel Islands and that very much includes those working in challenging circumstances in the south east of England.

‘We have never released these figures before, but they illustrate clearly that our charity’s work in the Channel is genuinely lifesaving.

‘Sadly, we know there have been incidents in the Channel which have resulted in deaths, but without the brave actions of our crews, who are ready to answer their pagers day or night, 365 days a year, we can be certain there would have been more.’

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