Migrants were on an ‘entirely unsuitable’ vessel when 27 died in channel crossing in 2021 – report
An official report into the deaths of at least 27 migrants using a “wholly unsuitable” boat in the English Channel has said the response team in Dover was “insufficient” to react, “foreseeable” problems were not recognised and French and British teams failed to share information properly.
The accident, in November 2021, was the deadliest accident involving a migrant boat trying to cross the Channel. The victims included a pregnant woman and three children.
The report, carried out by the Maritime Accident Investigation Branch, says that 33 passengers had been put on a boat that was “entirely unsuitable for the intended voyage and number of people on board”.
The report also claims that migrants phoning from boats had been told “to claim high levels of distress when in UK waters in the hope of expediting rescue” and that this “had the potential to mask genuine distress”. It also suggests that coastguard personnel may have developed a “mental threshold” of assuming that people were in “less severe peril” than they claimed.
However, relatives of those involved have criticised the report, saying it is vague, ambiguous, lacking in detail and does not hold anybody to account. The government has announced it will hold a separate inquiry into the events surrounding the sinking of the boat, describing it as a full and independent investigation. Transport Secretary Mark Harper said it would offer “families of the victims the clarity they deserve”.
Only two of those on the boat survived. The bodies of the other four have never been found, but they are presumed to be dead, meaning that it is almost certain that 31 people died in the accident on the night of 23-24 November, 2021.
The report is separate from France’s investigation into the disaster, which has now seen preliminary charges laid against five emergency service officials for allegedly failing to assist people in danger. This British report says that “despite extensive requests, the investigation was not granted access to any information held by French authorities”.
It claims that the British response to the accident was “hampered” by a combination of poor visibility, by a high number of boats that were crossing due to good weather, and by the fact that there was no aircraft available to carry out a surveillance mission across the English Channel.
This meant that the search and rescue response was based on phone calls from migrants on boats as well as information from French authorities. Reconciling the information was “extremely challenging”, the report says, due to the high number of calls, often coming from people on the same boat, and the difficulty in distinguishing one boat from another.
In the end, having established that a boat was sinking with more than 30 people on board, three migrant boats were located in UK waters during the ensuing search, leading to a wrong assumption that the people in peril had already been saved,
Migrants being rescued in November 2021
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“The investigation found that there was an assumption that the first boat to be found was the stricken craft,” the report concludes. “Events moved on and the plight of the genuinely stricken craft became masked by the increasingly busy task of dealing with crossing events.”
The full report is more than a hundred pages long, and presents a stark account of the accident and the hectic conversations between British authorities, French counterparts and migrants.
During the night, the boat was codenamed “Charlie” by the British and Migrant8 by the French. The report details various calls for help from passengers who call in on their phone, one screaming down the line and saying “I am finished”. Another call is full of shouting and noise, saying that the boat has broken. It says call handlers seemed unsure as to whether they were dealing with another boat in peril – or simply new reports about a vessel they already know about.
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It details how a helicopter pilot had to be woken up when it was agreed that a fixed-wing aircraft couldn’t fly.
It recounts a call received from a passenger saying that everyone is in the water and that they are “finished”. A message sent to one of the passengers at 3.33am was not delivered, leading the report to conclude that the passengers went into the water between 3.12am and 3.33am.
Other inflatable migrant boats in the area were contacted and rescued, leading to confusion as to whether these were “Charlie” or simply similar vessels.
The report says there have been significant changes in the way authorities respond to small boat crossings since the disaster, and notes a number of reviews. But it does call for greater co-ordination with the French to avoid “confusion and error” and also for UK authorities to improve surveillance.
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However, relatives of those involved in the sinking have criticised the report.
Zana Mamand’s brother Twana was on the boat. His body has never been recovered.
“This report is not thorough and it is very ambiguous,” he told Sky News. “The French report is much better – it gave verbatim accounts of what happened, and what was said, and it has led to action. This one is much more vague. There is very little detail of the conversations or the decisions.
“I am not satisfied at all. The British authorities seem to have spent two years on a report that achieves very little. The families want answers – I want to know what effort was put into finding my brother’s body. I have been asking this for two years and I have never received an answer.”
Organised criminal gangs are increasingly using rented houses and flats to operate illegal cannabis farms – and police say it is putting the lives of innocent neighbours at risk.
The gangs often use crude methods to bypass electricity meters to avoid paying for the high levels of energy the farms require, creating an increased fire risk.
Rival gangs also carry out raids on each other’s farms – a practice known as ‘taxing’ – carrying out “significant violence” to anyone who gets in their way, police say.
Greater Manchester Police detected 402 cannabis farms between May 2024 and April 2025, and Sky News was given access to an operation by its officers at a semi-detached house in a quiet suburban street in Wythenshawe.
Inside, officers found one room full of cannabis plants and another ‘drying room’ with the drug packaged up and ready to be distributed. The street value was estimated in the tens of thousands of pounds.
This home on a quiet street was filled with cannabis plants
Outside, officers found evidence that the electricity meter had been bypassed. ‘Abstracting’ is the offence of dishonestly using, wasting or diverting electricity. One person inside the property was arrested.
“The electricity gets bypassed in order to avoid big electric bills,” Inspector Bree Lanyon said.
“Because a substantial amount of electric is required to run the lights, the ventilation, the heat, everything else that’s required in the cannabis farm, the abstract is done in a haphazard way and it can cause fires within the properties.”
Officers found bags of the drug ready to be distributed
She continued: “We’ve seen a lot of fires recently in premises that have been set up as cannabis farms, because of the way the electricity is set up. It’s not safe and the neighbouring residence could be at risk if that property is burning down.”
The risks posed by cannabis farms were highlighted by the death of seven-year-old Archie York in 2024. He was killed when chemicals being used in a cannabis factory caused an explosion in the family’s block of flats. The drug dealer responsible was jailed for 14 years.
Archie York
The aftermath of the explosion which killed the seven-year-old
Police say gangs employ low-level operatives, known as gardeners, to manage and protect farms, who will often plead guilty to drug offences and accept the punishment to keep police off the trail of those controlling the operation.
The use of rented properties – sometimes through rogue landlords – also makes detection more difficult.
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“The vast majority are organised crime gangs,” said Detective Inspector Paul Crompton, from GMP’s serious and organised crime group. “It infuriates me when we take action against these farms and people say ‘It’s only cannabis’.
“What we see with cannabis farms is that rival organised crime groups will actively target those and break in and take the products by force. You’ve got a risk of potentially people being kidnapped or killed without us knowing anything about them.
“Make no bones about it, there’s massive amounts of money to make and they would rather just go and take that cannabis and sell it for themselves. They’ll do significant, violence against anybody that gets in the way, whether that’s the gardener, the police or residents who might get in the way.”
Police check an electricity meter for evidence of ‘abstracting’
Police say landlords need to be aware of the risks and even the chief executive of the British Landlords Association has fallen victim.
One of Sajjar Ahmad’s properties was badly damaged by those using it for an illegal cannabis farm. “I can only explain it as horrific,” he said.
“Our members, when they’ve experienced the problem with the cannabis farm, they are shocked. They didn’t know it could happen. They are not aware of the telltale signs.
“They have the same regrets as what I experienced – you need to carry out regular inspections and, if somebody is offering you a larger rent, then you should question that.”
A personal trainer who admitted dangerous driving on a first date that ended in a police car pile-up has been sentenced to one year and two months in a young offenders’ institution.
Mazyar Azarbonyad, 20, was taking a woman home in the early hours of 9 April when his driving triggered a car chase and eventual crash involving five police cars.
Mazyar Azarbonyad. Pic: Northumbria Police
Seven officers ended up in hospital, and one of their cars had its roof torn off in the dramatic collision that left debris strewn across the A1 near Newcastle.
Northumbria Police said while three officers have been able to return to duty, four remain off work.
Pic: PA
Pic: PA
At Newcastle Crown Court in April, Azarbonyad admitted a series of driving offences, including driving without insurance several times after the crash, and failing to stop.
Northumbria Police said officers attempted to stop his powerful BMW in the Whickham area of Gateshead due to its speed and defective headlight.
After being instructed to pull over, Azarbonyad initially stopped before fleeing as the officer approached his vehicle.
Pic: PA
Pic: PA
The car was later spotted on Whickham Front Street where it again made off from police and drove at excessive speeds through residential streets.
Specialist officers from the force’s road policing unit were sent to the area, and at 2.25am got behind the car where it reached speeds in excess of 120mph.
Just two minutes later the collision occurred near the Denton Interchange exit in Newcastle.
Azarbonyad and his female passenger were both uninjured.
The woman, aged in her 20s, was arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting dangerous driving but was later told she would face no further action. She later received a caution for drug possession.
Azarbonyad arriving at Newcastle Crown Court on Monday. Pic: PA
Azarbonyad was arrested at the scene and later released on bail with strict conditions including an interim driving ban.
Days later, officers received information that he was driving a red Hyundai i10 from his County Durham home to work in Newcastle city centre.
He was arrested on a garage forecourt in Stanley on 16 April after being caught filling up the vehicle.
Appearing before magistrates the following day, he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, two counts of failing to stop a motor vehicle when required by a constable, six counts of no insurance use, and six counts of driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence.
Pic: PA
Defending, solicitor Jack Lovell had told the court the defendant, of Stanley, had shown genuine remorse for his actions.
Returning to Newcastle Crown Court on Monday, Azarbonyad was sentenced to one year and two months in a young offenders’ institution.
He was also disqualified from driving for three years and seven months. If Azarbonyad wishes to get behind the wheel again, he must also sit an extended re-test.
Pic: PA
Following the court case, Superintendent Billy Mulligan said: “It is sheer luck that Mazyar Azarbonyad did not kill anyone that day with his reckless actions.
“What should have been a simple stop turned into him driving incredibly dangerously in a bid to get away from officers.
“He showed absolutely zero regard for the safety of anyone else that morning, and his decision-making behind the wheel put lives at risk.”
Superintendent Mulligan praised the bravery of the officers involved in the pursuit and subsequent collision.
He added: “While three officers have been able to return to duty, four of our colleagues remain off work – and I wish them all the best in their recovery.
“They were simply doing their job, protecting the public from the actions of someone who was not even qualified or insured to drive.
“We have a zero-tolerance approach to this type of behaviour, and we are committed to bringing offenders to justice and ensuring our roads are as safe as possible.”
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