Crisis as boat’s engine breaks down during perilous journey
Migrants being brought into Portsmouth after the rescue (Image: Barry Williams/PA)
French navy boats helped a mega-dinghy carrying 140 people reach British waters after its engine broke down, it has emerged.
Rescue teams admitted they were blindsided as the smugglers used an “isolated, rocky spot” in the Cherbourg region.
And the boat was in “serious difficulty” within “an hour”, officials said.
This led to five French rescue vessels and two helicopters helping the 140 asylum seekers on the nearly 70-mile journey.
Hundreds of protesters clashed with police after blocking the road to prevent the coaches carrying the Channel arrivals to a processing centre in Kent. But many now fear the UK is entering a new phase of the small boats crisis, with people smugglers launching boats from further afield.
A rescue source said: “It was in the very early hours of Sunday morning, then it pushed off from the beach, with everyone on board.
“Jobourg is not patrolled by police, because nobody would expect a boat to leave from such an isolated, rocky spot.
“Within an hour of so the boat was in serious difficulty, and passengers on board made Mayday calls on their mobile phones.”
The engine had failed, investigators believe, meaning the dinghy was drifting dangerously about 14 miles off the coast.
And navy chiefs dispatched the Amiral de Tourville lifeboat, the President Jules Pinteaux and Philippe Keigger fast patrol boats, the Jacques Armengaud rescue boat, and the high-seas tug Abeille Liberté (Liberty Bee).
A French Navy H-160 helicopter and a Dragon 50 civil security chopper joined the huge operation.
The Abeille Liberté got closest to the stricken boat, and found “all on board packed closely together, and clearly in some distress”.
The source added: “We asked them who wanted to be rescued, and the answer was no one.
“There were 20 women and eight children among them, and they clearly caused the most concern.
“Only a few migrants were wearing life jackets, so we handed out jackets to all of them. It seemed incomprehensible that they were risking their lives without life jackets.
“A second outboard motor was made to work, so the boat could continue on its voyage to Britain.”
Lifejackets were ditched in Portsmouth (Image: Joe Sene/PA)
After travelling nearly 40 miles from France, it was intercepted by two lifeboat vessels and a British aircraft.
The source added: “The British boats finally saw the inflatable safely to England.”
The French authorities confirmed it was the first time that an immigrant boat had tried to reach the UK from such a distance.
A spokesman for the Maritime Prefecture for the English Channel and the North Sea said the escort operation had been essential “for safety reasons”.
He said: “The situation had to be monitored, in preparation for rescues if necessary. Those on board were determined to reach the UK.
“Given the structural fragility of these consistently overloaded vessels, the decision was made not to force migrants onto state rescue boats, so as to avoid endangering their lives in the event of a shipwreck.”
Portsmouth: Police remain at Eastney Point after migrant crossing
Smugglers have expanded their routes and launch points to dodge the belated crackdown in Calais and Dunkirk.
And they are using more mega-dinghies, prompting fears of a dangerous new phase in the crisis which could lead to an “invasion” on the South coast.
The alarming scenes of 140 migrants being brought into Portsmouth – not Dover – will intensify calls for Britain to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) so that undocumented migrants can be detained and removed.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham is facing calls to detain and deport every Channel migrant.
Fury erupted after 140 asylum seekers were taken into Portsmouth after being intercepted on a mega-dinghy by two lifeboat vessels.
Hundreds of protesters clashed with police after blocking the road to prevent the coaches carrying the Channel arrivals to a processing centre in Kent.