Many of the people who drowned in the biggest ever loss of life in a migrant dinghy in the Channel could have been saved if rescue services had searched for them for longer, lawyers for their families have said.
Their comments came after the independent Cranston inquiry, which is scrutinising the circumstances surrounding the mass drowning, heard evidence from an expert into survivability in the water.
Prof Michael Tipton told the inquiry many people could have been alive for several hours after the boat capsized and explained for how many hours some of those onboard may have been able to survive once in the water.
The boat was thought to have been carrying 33 people, including 13 women and eight children, when it capsized on 24 November 2021. Along with the 27 confirmed dead, four people remain missing, while two survived.
Tipton said that up to 15 of those on board may still have been alive more than four hours after the dinghy capsized. On that day sunrise was at 7.26am. Distress calls from the stricken dinghy started to come in just after 1am and the last distress call was at 3.11am. It is estimated that the passengers went into the water at 3.12am or 3.13am.
Tipton said he believed that at 3.24am the majority of people in the dinghy were still alive and that possibly by dawn, eight, 10 or 15 people were still alive. According to the coastguard log shown to the inquiry, a decision was taken to stand down the Border Force cutter boat Valiant just before 6am and it returned to shore at 7.03am with 98 passengers rescued from other dinghies but not from the dinghy where the mass drowning occurred.
Initially there was confusion about whether or not the passengers on the stricken dinghy had been rescued because it was confused with another dinghy in a separate incident.
One of the only two survivors, Issa Mohamed Omar, previously gave evidence to the inquiry. “I’m a voice for those people who passed away,” he said.
He described the scenes of desperation on the dinghy with people making frantic phone calls for help right up to the moment the dinghy capsized.
“It was very cold. People were screaming when we fell into the sea. We all thought we were dying.”
Maria Thomas of Duncan Lewis solicitors, who represents 21 bereaved families and one survivor, said: “We heard today that although some may have succumbed to ‘cold water shock’ almost immediately upon entering the water, many onboard the small boat known as incident ‘Charlie’ were likely to still be alive many hours after the boat capsized.
“It is therefore entirely possible, indeed likely, that had additional assets been deployed to continue the search for Charlie after Valiant returned to port at 07.03 to disembark the 98 people it had rescued, many more of the victims from that night may have been alive today.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Our thoughts remain with everyone affected by this tragic event, including the loved ones and families of those who lost their lives.
“We remain committed to supporting the inquiry and will give due consideration to any recommendations made. It would be inappropriate to comment further.”
The inquiry continues.
