Migrant deaths inquests to open after boat capsizes in Channel

Migrant deaths inquests to open after boat capsizes in Channel
Gareth Fuller
Carl Bennett

By Carl Bennett


Published: 23/12/2022

- 07:51

Updated: 14/02/2023

- 10:25

Ibrahima Bah, 19, of no fixed address, was arrested in connection with the incident last Friday.

The inquests into the deaths of four people who died after a boat capsized in the Channel are set to open.

The four were pronounced dead following a major rescue operation off the Kent coast in the early hours of December 14 after reports of a boat in distress.

Emergency staff remove a stretcher and body bag from the Dover lifeboat after it returned to the Port of Dover following a large search and rescue operation launched in the Channel off the coast of Dungeness, in Kent, during an incident involving a small boat likely to have been carrying migrants. Three people have died following the incident and 43 people have been rescued, a Government source said. Picture date: Wednesday December 14, 2022.
Gareth Fuller

Another 39 people were safely brought to shore during the rescue, which involved the Royal Navy, French navy, Coastguard, RNLI lifeboats, ambulance service and police.

The inquests, which will be presided over by senior coroner Patricia Harding, will begin at County Hall in Maidstone on Friday morning.

The circumstances surrounding the deaths are being investigated by detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, assisted by the National Crime Agency.

Ibrahima Bah, 19, of no fixed address, was arrested in connection with the incident last Friday.

Small boats used to cross the Channel by people thought to be migrants are removed from the water and documented at the Port of Dover in Kent before being taken away for storage. Picture date: Tuesday December 20, 2022.
Gareth Fuller

Kent Police announced on Sunday that Bah had been charged with knowingly facilitating the attempted arrival in the UK of people he knew or had reasonable cause to believe were asylum seekers.

He appeared at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court in Kent on Monday and pleaded not guilty to facilitating attempted illegal entry to the UK.

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