RNLI releases footage of moment crews pulled 19 migrants from the sea as charity defends Channel rescues after 'taxi service' claims
Footage shows a group of screaming men thrashing around in the sea as RNLI volunteers throw mini life jackets - known as horseshoes - in their direction.
The migrants - who are wearing little more than t-shirts - are then seen clambering up the side of the boat before being hauled aboard.
One crew member, Dan Sinclair, said in the video: 'These people genuinely need our help. They are in distress. They have been in this situation for potentially hours on end and have become frozen - almost paralysed in position.'
The RNLI released the footage - filmed at 4.50am in August 2023 - as it defended its 'compassionate' small boat rescues, adding that the 114 it carried out last year amounted to just 1.2 per cent of total launches and led to 58 lives being saved.
All 19 people rescued by the RNLI in this incident survived, but six people pulled out of the sea died after being pulled from the sea by other attending vessels.
Lifeboat crew members - who are overwhelmingly volunteers - said they would continue to attend any incident the Coastguard sends them to and will go to the aid of anyone in trouble at sea.
Nigel Farage previously hit out at the RNLI by claiming it had become 'a taxi service for illegal immigration'.
Nearly 24,000 small boat migrants have arrived in the UK so far this year - sparking widespread public fury. Crossings continued today, with migrants seen running across a beach in northern France to pile onto an overcrowded dinghy.
Paula Lain, who works as a management consultant when she is not volunteering for the RNLI, told the BBC: 'When our pager goes, we're not thinking about anything political.
'We're all thinking about people. We're actively compassionate. That's what drives us beyond any moral or civic responsibility.
'When we're tasked, we don't know what we're going to be tasked to. We're there to help people in their most distressing times.'
The August 2023 incident shown in the footage was described as one of the RNLI's 'most challenging' rescues yet.
Many of the migrants swam directly to the lifeboat as soon as they spotted it and were pulled on board - joining 68 people who had already been rescued from another dinghy.
Some needed immediate medical attention and others collapsed with sheer exhaustion when they got to safety.
RNLI crew members said they have been accused of facilitating illegal immigration, but Mr Sinclair defended their work.
The beach at Gravelines is a common departure point for migrants. French police have been heavily criticised for failing to stop the departures
Recalling one recent rescue, he told the BBC: 'There was a little girl on that boat.
'When we took that little girl - who was probably four years old - off that boat, she looked at me straight in the eye and she said 'Thank you. I love you.'
'Now, as a father that went straight through my heart. I know I am in the right place at the right time and I am doing exactly what I should be doing.'
Photos taken this morning on a beach in Gravelines in northern France showed groups of migrants wading through waves towards a smuggler's dinghy, which already appeared to be dangerously overcrowded.
Officials are now planning to use AI to check migrants' ages after shocking figures showed four out of 10 who claimed to be children were lying.
Home Office figures show that between mid-2022 and June 2024, 11,449 age disputes were raised by UK Border Force staff. Some 8,791 were resolved with 3,570 - amounting to 40 per cent - having lied about being under 18.
A staggering 1,305 of those caught lying about their age were from Afghanistan, in a bid to get special protection in the UK.
Child refugees cannot be deported and have the right to the same healthcare, education and sustenance as British children.
Nigel Farage criticised the RNLI's lifeboat rescues in 2021, before he became leader of Reform.
Sharing a photo of a lifeboat 'rammed full' of migrants, he said: 'Sadly the wonderful RNLI in Kent has become a taxi service for illegal immigration, to the dismay of all involved. What a state of affairs.'
Simon Ling, head of lifeboats at RNLI said today: 'The core purpose of the RNLI is to save lives at sea. We strongly believe that whilst anyone can drown, nobody should.
'We do this across all of the UK and Ireland but the Channel attracts attention and we understand why.
'It polarises opinions, but to RNLI it's very simple - it's men and women getting up in the middle of the night to go and rescue fellow men and women.'
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The National
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