A Coastguard Rescue Helicopter from Lydd risked the pilot and crew in an attempt to find five migrants who had jumped from a dinghy containing 45 other migrants Eight Miles off Dungeness in the Channel this morning. (Sunday 19th December 2021)
In thick fog, the helicopter crews and the RNLI Dungeness lifeboat were scrambled following an emergency call advising five men had jumped into the water from the black ten-metre boat.
Police and Border Force were there to meet the second boat of the morning of foolish migrants. Some had to be treated for hypothermia. The men were all taken ashore and given hot drinks and blankets after being pulled from the freezing sea.
Officers attending said they were not only foolish but also very stupid to get on a boat and to be told it’s 20 miles that way in thick fog.
