FRENCH rescuers are giving UK-bound small-boat migrants a free pass if they do not ask for assistance while in difficulty in the Channel, a source claims.
Around 100 from three dinghies stopped on a single day were allowed to continue their journeys when they refused aid in treacherous conditions.
AFPAround 100 migrants from dinghies stopped in a day were allowed to continue their journeys after refusing aid[/caption]
Two bosses of a migrant hotels company, pictured Graham King, shared £72million last year as profits soared
Another seventy migrants were taken off the flimsy, overcrowded vessels and taken back to France, an emergency services source told The Sun on Sunday.
Logs from the CROSS rescue centre in Cap Gris-Nez show 34 people were taken from a damaged inflatable off Wimereux, near Boulogne, after a mayday call on October 16.
Later that morning, off Ambleteuse, ten migrants were plucked from a vessel in difficulty while French Navy patrol vessel Pluvier rescued 26 near Merlimont.
In each case, those not “requesting assistance” were allowed to continue.
The source said: “It was their choice. The migrant boats are always overcrowded, and that’s why a lot of people feel unsafe.”
A Maritime Prefect in France source said “selective rescues” were set policy.
He said: “Rescuers always intervene when there is an appeal for assistance — but when there is no appeal, there is no rescue.”
Dover MP Natalie Elphicke said: “It beggars belief the French would rescue some people and let the rest carry on into the busiest shipping lane to cross the Channel.
“Saving lives at sea isn’t a choice, it’s a moral and international law obligation. Every one of these small boats is dangerous and the number of lives lost is increasing.
“The French must apply their duty under international maritime law, stop all of these dangerous, flimsy overcrowded small boats, and take everyone involved back to France.”
It comes as the UK government is set to pay France £476million in the next three years to stop migrants, on top of £232million paid between 2014 and April this year.
TWO bosses of a migrant hotels company — Graham King and Randle Slatter — shared £72million last year as profits soared alongside cross-Channel arrivals, with much of the money coming from taxpayer-funded Home Office deals. Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
