Government Orders Probe Into Deadliest English Channel Capsize That Killed 27 Migrants

A report said the UK’s rescue effort has been hampered by ‘poor visibility,’ and it was hard for coastguard operatives to distil useful information from calls.

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution on Nov. 25, 2021. Gareth Fuller/PA

The government has ordered an inquiry on Thursday into the drowning of at least 27 migrants in the English Channel when they attempted to head to the UK in November 2021.

It comes after the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) published an investigation report on the deadliest migrant incident in the Channel, saying the UK’s search and rescue mission was hampered “due to poor visibility and by the lack of a dedicated aircraft conducting aerial surveillance of the Dover Strait.”