Major incident in the English Channel involving a small boat. 14 Dec 2022

[cupid_stunt]

Breaking news.

The rescue operation is understood to be under way off the coast of Kent, near Dungeness, involving a small boat.

A Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesperson said: "HM Coastguard is currently coordinating a search and rescue response to an incident involving a small boat off Kent, working with the Navy, Border Force, Kent Police and other partners.

"We have sent Dover, Dungeness, Hastings and Ramsgate RNLI lifeboats and Deal, Dungeness and Folkestone coastguard rescue teams, along with the coastguard area commander.

Those poor people out there in freezing conditions.

Search for migrants in freezing Channel continues after four confirmed dead and 39 others rescued as boat capsizes

A French charity which helps migrants in Calais says it received a 22-second WhatsApp voice note from a man on a sinking boat begging for help as babies screamed in the background.

news.sky.com

 

[Mr.Bishie]

Doesn’t bode well

 

[skyscraper101]

I couldn't imagine crossing the channel in these temperatures. Those poor people.

 

[rubbershoes]

There'll be plenty of terrible people pleased by this.

 

[tommers]

Awful.

 

[Flavour]

more than a thousand have died in the med this year. and it really brings out the worst in people.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Sky is reporting that a statement from the French say there were between 30 & 50 on the boat, and the French Navy is involved in the search and rescue operation.

Although, with the sea being so cold, it's more likely to be a search and discovery operation.

 

[not-bono-ever]

Sadly you won’t last long in the channel on a day like this. Terrible

 

[Magnus McGinty]

How do the trafficking scum manage to evade detection? Or are there simply too many at it?

 

[Artaxerxes]

How do the trafficking scum manage to evade detection? Or are there simply too many at it?

Big old coast line and a small boat, it’s not hard to launch undetected the challenge is to stay undetected (which is easier to do if it’s rough weather)

 

[cupid_stunt]

Latest report is that some have actually been rescued, which is amazing news considering the alert was raised at about 3.40am and the boat was about half way across the channel.

But, sadly, there's has also been some deaths.

 

[not a trot]

There'll be plenty of terrible people pleased by this.

MailonLine headline mentions A & E being cleared to make way for casualties. Deliberate attempt to antagonise.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Dreadful, just dreadful.

Go to Nord-de-pas-Calais, round up everyone there who wishes to cross, stick them on a ferry and process them, as is our legal-fucking-duty. And whilst they await a decision, issue NI numbers and let them work, we keep hearing that there's produce rotting in fields and so on, yet there's 1000's of people willing to work hard in the UK just sat there doing jack.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Sky is quoting a source saying 43 have been rescued, here's some of the lucky ones...

The first images from the scene, obtained exclusively by Sky News, show a number of migrants being rescued from an inflatable boat.

They are wearing life jackets and are being helped onto a Dungeness lifeboat.

 

[MickiQ]

How do the trafficking scum manage to evade detection? Or are there simply too many at it?

Demand for their services are high. The people aboard the boats haven't been kidnapped off the streets, they've paid to be there and so long as there are no legal ways across (which there are never going to be) demand and thus supply will continue.
I would also question the commitment of the local French authorities on the ground to stop them trying. It doesn't matter what deals are signed between London and Paris, the general population of Calais want rid of these migrants and aren't that bothered whether that is achieved by reaching Dover or drowning in the Channel. Le Plod in Calais aren't going to be that committed either and are only going to make enough of an effort to satisfy management that they're doing something.

 

[editor]

The RNLI crews are fucking heroes.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Sky is quoting a source saying 43 have been rescued, here's some of the lucky ones...



View attachment 355621View attachment 355622

Would it really have been so hard for them just to have said 'people' there, rather than 'migrants'.

 

[cupid_stunt]

I am amazed that so many have been rescued, and in particular the 30 pulled from the water, what I result, just hope they all survive.

Three dead and 43 rescued, government says​

Three people have died after a small boat incident in the English Channel and 43 people have been rescued, a government source said.
More than 30 of those rescued were pulled from the water, they told PA news agency.
It is understood the number of people confirmed dead so far could be likely to rise.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I couldn't imagine crossing the channel in these temperatures. Those poor people.

We met a guy in Calais who was planning to cross by himself in an inflatable dinghy. He had picked Christmas day because there would be no ferries to crash into him. There was no talking him out of it. But on Christmas day there was a horrendous storm. He attempted his crossing anyway, but barely got beyond the beach before he twigged that he would surely drown if he went any further. We found him by the side of the road out in the countryside walking back into town, drenched and frozen, and got him some dry clothes and hot food. Never been so relieved to see anyone.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Thank god there are survivors at least. Hope they don't get dumped in some godawful fucking camp, they'll need proper medical care.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Thank god there are survivors at least. Hope they don't get dumped in some godawful fucking camp, they'll need proper medical care.

Not happening, it’s not like the government is interested in looking after actual citizens either

 

[Serge Forward]

Would it really have been so hard for them just to have said 'people' there, rather than 'migrants'.

You'd think. But that would be a wildly optimistic view of the British journalist (cue poem).

 

[MickiQ]

View attachment 355626


Not happening, it’s not like the government is interested in looking after actual citizens either

Not happening, the diplomatic and legal ruckus that leaving the ECHR would cause with the rest of Europe and even places like Canada is not worth it just to placate the readership of the Daily Mail, this is just dog whistling especially by Boris who wants to remind people he's still around. There will be some tough talk for a few days (just like there was last time) about cracking down on the evil traffickers, some pearl clutching about the poor sods that have drowned and then it will get forgotten about until the next time it happens. This is our version of school shootings in America, there are solutions but most people just won't accept them.

 

[NoXion]

Dreadful, just dreadful.

Go to Nord-de-pas-Calais, round up everyone there who wishes to cross, stick them on a ferry and process them, as is our legal-fucking-duty. And whilst they await a decision, issue NI numbers and let them work, we keep hearing that there's produce rotting in fields and so on, yet there's 1000's of people willing to work hard in the UK just sat there doing jack.

That's the thing that gets me, even from what I think of as an evil capitalist perspective, this behaviour from the government makes no damn sense. The kind of miserable excuses for human beings who get thrilled over other people dying in the Channel were never going to vote anything other than Tory, so why is it so important that their bloodlust be sated? What is the fucking point?

 

[killer b]

The kind of miserable excuses for human beings who get thrilled over other people dying in the Channel were never going to vote anything other than Tory

the rising support of the Brexit Party suggests this isn't true. Continued Tory dominance - if there's to be any chance of that at all - involves not losing voters to parties of the right

 

[SpookyFrank]

The kind of miserable excuses for human beings who get thrilled over other people dying in the Channel were never going to vote anything other than Tory, so why is it so important that their bloodlust be sated? What is the fucking point?

There is no point. It's just the only move the Tories have left. No evil communist running Labour, no previous government to blame, no Brexit to get done. Blaming striking workers isn't going to carry because striking workers is nearly everyone at this point. So it's back to plan A: dog whistle racism.

 

[platinumsage]

Sadly you won’t last long in the channel on a day like this. Terrible

Sea temps typically lag seasonal air temps by around three month, hence the north sea is coldest in March, whereas in December it will be around halfway between that and the peak temperatures of September.

 

[pogofish]

Not happening, the diplomatic and legal ruckus that leaving the ECHR would cause with the rest of Europe and even places like Canada is not worth it just to placate the readership of the Daily Mail, this is just dog whistling especially by Boris who wants to remind people he's still around. There will be some tough talk for a few days (just like there was last time) about cracking down on the evil traffickers, some pearl clutching about the poor sods that have drowned and then it will get forgotten about until the next time it happens. This is our version of school shootings in America, there are solutions but most people just won't accept them.

Its more than just keeping the Daily Mail lot happy though. There have been a whole lot of vested interests pressing for withdrawal from the ECHR over quite a long time now because it would make things like hiving-off/changing the focus of parts of the NHS and certain aspects of health provision much more amenable/attractive to turning over to private/US-model insurance-based operators.

 

[kebabking]

There is no point. It's just the only move the Tories have left. No evil communist running Labour, no previous government to blame, no Brexit to get done. Blaming striking workers isn't going to carry because striking workers is nearly everyone at this point. So it's back to plan A: dog whistle racism.

Anecdotal for this: I've got a friend who's a member of the Tory party - and a member of the Labour party, she's a political nerd - she has mentioned a number of times that involvement by party members at a local level (coffee mornings, stuffing envelopes, all the day-to-day little stuff) has dropped off a cliff. In 2019 a weekday social might have had 20-30 turn up, and go on for hours, but now it's perhaps half a dozen, and everyone has gone in an hour.

The only people left are the nutters and the MP's spouse, who despises them.

 

[Louis MacNeice]

Anecdotal for this: I've got a friend who's a member of the Tory party - and a member of the Labour party, she's a political nerd - she has mentioned a number of times that involvement by party members at a local level (coffee mornings, stuffing envelopes, all the day-to-day little stuff) has dropped off a cliff. In 2019 a weekday social might have had 20-30 turn up, and go on for hours, but now it's perhaps half a dozen, and everyone has gone in an hour.

The only people left are the nutters and the MP's spouse, who despises them.

Sorry are you really saying they belong to both the Labour Party and the Conservative Party, and that she is actively involved in both. My credulity is feeling pretty stretched.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice