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Grieving families who lost relatives in a mass drowning in the Channel a year ago have criticized a UK body investigating the tragedy for a lack of progress in determining how and why dozens of people were lost.
An interim report from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) published on Thursday confirmed that the boat had reached UK waters.
At first, officials thought the disaster was beyond their jurisdiction because the bodies and survivors were found in the French part of the Channel.
But an investigation into the British search and rescue response was launched in January “when it became clear that some of the incidents related to this loss of life took place within UK waters”, the report said.
He added that when authorities dispatched search and rescue services, there was no sign of the boat or its passengers.
In the incident on 24 November 2021, 31 people died slowly in the channel. They made repeated SOS calls to the French and UK emergency services, but no help was dispatched. 27 bodies were recovered from the overcrowded dinghy. Four are still missing.
Only two people survived the incident, which was the worst maritime disaster in the Channel for 30 years. The dead included 21 men, seven women, one of whom was pregnant, and three teenagers.
His modest boat left France on 23 November 2021 at around 10 am. Around midnight she began to sink in the middle of the channel and sank. When repeated calls were made by the passengers to the French and UK emergency services, the French told them they were in British waters while the British told them they were in French waters.
It wasn’t until 11 It was hours later – at 2pm the next day – that a French fisherman saw the bodies in the water and raised the alarm.
Speaking through their lawyer on the first anniversary of the tragedy, the families expressed dismay at the MAIB’s two-page interim report.
Maria Thomas, of Duncan Lewis Solicitors, said: “We need to carry out an independent investigation into what happened that night. The English and French parties must have access to each other’s records from the night of the sinking. If there were systemic issues that contributed to the high casualties that night, they need to be identified in an independent investigation to ensure that this type of tragedy does not happen again.”
16 of the bereaved relatives have written to Rishi Sunak requesting changes to prevent future tragedies.
The letter from bereaved relatives to the Prime Minister – co-signed by several trade unions including Care4Calais, Channel Rescue and Safe Passage, Trade Union Congress and the RMT, MPs including Bel Ribeiro-Eddy and author Michael. Rosen – Families demand justice for their lost loved ones.
The letter said: “We demand answers as to why the French and British authorities failed desperate people who came for help. We demand an end to the toxic rhetoric used by our politicians – calling innocent refugees ‘illegal migrants’ or worse, ‘invaders’ – which breeds fear and division. We call for safe passage to allow these refugees to seek asylum in Britain without risking their lives across the Channel.
Bereaved families are further distressed as they received generic letters from MAIB via text or WhatsApp on Wednesday that did not name them or their lost loved ones, asking them to provide evidence to the inquiry, such as their last phone conversations. with their relatives when the dinghy began to deflate. Relatives say they cannot understand why it took MAIB a year to get in touch with them.
Thomas said: “There is no promptness and no transparency in the legal cases brought by bereaved families. Promptness is important because it ensures the preservation of evidence, and it is concerning that it has taken so long to contact the families.
“Families were sent personalized letters on the eve of the anniversary, without their name or the name of the relative they lost, making them feel that investigators did not care about them. This further erodes their confidence in the MAIB investigation.”
A spokesman for the MAIB said: “On the anniversary of the accident, our thoughts are with those who have lost loved ones in this tragedy. While it may not be possible to fully understand what happened at the time of the accident, it is important that we examine whether the UK’s emergency response that night was appropriate once it became clear that migrant boats in UK waters might be in trouble.
“Our investigation aims to improve safety, and if lessons can be learned, and if deemed appropriate, we will make recommendations to address the issues identified. Our investigation is ongoing and we expect to publish it in early summer 2023.”
The spokesman added that tracing the victims’ families was a “complicated process”.
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