Latest news with #coastguard
BBC News
13 hours ago
- Climate
- BBC News
Three people rescued off East Yorkshire coast in two incidents
Three people have been rescued in two incidents off the East Yorkshire coast.A man was rescued by a lifeboat crew after he drifted about a mile (about 1.5km) out to sea on a small inflatable dinghy off followed an incident on Friday when two walkers were cut off by the tide at the base of a cliff in Skipsea. HM Coastguard, Bridlington RNLI's inshore lifeboat and Humberside Police responded to the emergencies. The Sunday rescue saw the RNLI respond to reports that the man in a dinghy was unable to make it back to shore due to a strong officers helped the crew find Johnson, deputy station officer for Bridlington Coastguard, said: "This incident highlights how important strong working relationships are between our teams. This incident could have ended very differently." During Friday's rescue, a police officer was lowered to assess the walkers' wellbeing before they were lifted to safety by the Coastguard.A Coastguard spokesperson aid: "The seamless co-ordination between our teams and Humberside Police allowed us to bring two people to safety efficiently and safely. "We're proud of the professionalism shown by all involved." Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
BreakingNews.ie
2 days ago
- General
- BreakingNews.ie
Hundreds of migrants cross English Channel in small boats
Hundreds of migrants are thought to have crossed the English Channel in small boats on Saturday. At least six boats left France in the first attempted crossings to reach the UK in a week. Advertisement French police officers watched as migrants, including children, boarded at a beach in Gravelines, between Calais and Dunkirk, in the morning. Authorities were then pictured escorting the boats. France has agreed to change its rules so police can prevent people in the water from getting on to boats, but this has not yet come into effect, UK home secretary Yvette Cooper has said in recent weeks. She has been urging the French to make the changes so their maritime forces can intervene in shallow waters as soon as possible, it is understood. Advertisement A British Home Office source said: 'We have developed strong co-operation with the French and it is important that they have agreed to disrupt these boats once they're in the water – and not just on the shore. 'This vital step now needs to be operationalised to protect border security and save lives.' Yvette Cooper (James Manning/PA) The coastguard reportedly issued an appeal for fishing boats to assist a yacht and kayaks in trouble in the Channel as it responded to small boats. Co-ordinating multiple simultaneous incidents is 'not unusual', the coastguard said, stressing that 'at no time was public safety compromised'. Advertisement 'In line with standard procedure, coastguard operations centres may contact vessels in the vicinity of an incident, including fishing boats, to provide assistance if they are best placed to help, regardless of other ongoing operations. 'This is routine practice and does not indicate an absence of search and rescue assets.' The highest number of arrivals recorded on a single day so far this year was 825 on May 21st. This year is on course to set a record for Channel crossings, with more than 13,000 people having arrived so far, up 30 per cent on this point last year, according to analysis of the data by the PA news agency. Advertisement Sir Keir Starmer's government has pledged to crack down on small boat crossings including with measures targeting smuggling gangs. A Home Office spokesperson said: 'We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security. 'The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die as long as they pay, and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice. 'That is why this Government has put together a serious plan to take down these networks at every stage. Advertisement French authorities escort a small boat leaving the beach at Gravelines (Gareth Fuller/PA) 'Through international intelligence sharing under our Border Security Command, enhanced enforcement operations in northern France and tougher legislation in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, we are strengthening international partnerships and boosting our ability to identify, disrupt and dismantle criminal gangs whilst strengthening the security of our borders.' The UK home secretary previously said gangs have been taking advantage of a higher number of calm weather days to make the journey. UK temperatures hit 26C on Saturday, wrapping up the sunniest spring on record. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said boats were 'flooding the channel', with Border Force 'stretched beyond breaking point, and even fishing vessels drafted in because our maritime rescue services are overwhelmed'. 'A nation reduced to chaos on the high seas while Keir Starmer hides behind platitudes and process. 'Labour has completely lost control of our borders. Their pledge to smash gangs in tatters. They scrapped the Rwanda deterrent before it even began and now the boats won't stop coming. 'So far, this is already the worst year on record. Labour have failed on every front, and Britain is paying the price. This is a day of shame for Labour.'
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Migrant rescues in English Channel meant coastguard was too busy to come to aid of stricken yacht
The coastguard were too busy dealing with migrant rescues yesterday morning to assist a yacht and kayak who believed they were in trouble in the English Channel. Border Force, RNLI and several French vessels scrambled with the coastguard at around 5am on Saturday to deal with reports of 15 small boats attempting to reach UK shores. At least seven of the dinghies left the coast of Gravelines - which lies between Calais and Dunkirk - where a group of men, women and children were seen boarding a dinghy at a beach. And while maritime resources were being designated to stop these small boats, a yacht on the Channel had issued an alert to say that it begun taking on water. HM Coastguard told The Times it had been 'responding to small boats activity in the Channel' but added that 'the co-ordination of multiple, simultaneous incidents is not unusual, and at no time was public safety compromised'. The coastguard added that they were also satisfied the yacht and kayakers did not need assistance. A Home Office spokesperson also told the newspaper they want to 'end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security' and that the government had a 'serious plan' to do so. Before the migrants began heading towards Britain, French police were seen watching on as they piled onto the beaches with one officer even appearing to take pictures on his phone. After the boat was loaded, French authorities were then pictured escorting a small boat from aboard their own. There have not been any arrivals of asylum seekers crossing the Channel in small boats for a week, the latest Home Office figures show. But new data did reveal that France is intercepting fewer potential migrants than at any time since the phenomenon began, despite a £480 million deal with the UK's neighbour to help stop crossings. Around 38 percent of people attempting to make the dangerous crossing have been intercepted so far this year, some 8,347 compared to 13,167 who have arrived in the UK. This is compared to authorities preventing 45 percent of crossings last year and 46 percent in 2023. It is in spite of a £480 million, three-year deal with the French, secured by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in March 2023, to double the number of officers patrolling beaches from 400 to 800. The deal also involved setting up a joint command centre and a detention centre. The fall is believed to be due to a change in tactics by the heartless people smuggling gangs taking advantage of young families' desperation. Instead of loads boats right next to the shore, smugglers instead now inflate the boat and get it out to sea before people wade towards it, often reaching up to the chest or neck in water before they are pulled on board. This prevents police making arrests on the shoreline and means Britain is instead relying on the French Coastguard to conduct rescues and returning people to France after these instead. In a possible sign of hope for the government an ongoing series of legal challenges has the potential to stem the flow of migrants through Europe, while France recently changed its laws to allow police officers to use their own boats and intercept crossings in shallow waters. But 2025 is on course to set a record for Channel crossings, with more than 13,000 people having arrived so far, up 30 percent on the number recorded at this point last year, according to the latest data. It comes after Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to crack down on small boat crossings including with measures targeting smuggling gangs. The Home Secretary has previously said gangs have been taking advantage of a higher number of calm weather days to make crossings. The new crossings come just weeks after the Prime Minister announced plans for 'return hubs' to send migrants back to the country they came to the UK from more easily. The Prime Minister is eyeing up deals with Balkan countries, and some in Africa, to house failed asylum seekers. Labour is looking to strike deals with the likes of Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Sir Keir had hoped Albania would join the scheme but was left embarrassed earlier this month when he travelled there, only to be publicly rebuffed by PM Edi Rama. Speaking in Albania earlier this month, Sir Keir said: 'What now we want to do and are having discussions of, talks of, is return hubs which is where someone has been through the system in the UK, they need to be returned and we have to make sure they're returned effectively and we'll do that, if we can, through return hubs. 'So that's what the talks are about. I would say in this area no single measure is going to be the measure that is, if you like, a silver bullet. 'By putting it all together - arrests, seizures, agreements with other countries, returning people who shouldn't be here, and return hubs, if we can through these talks to add to our armoury, will allow us to bear down on this vile trade and to make sure that we stop those people crossing the Channel.' Downing Street said the plans were 'entirely different' to the last government's flagship Rwanda deportation scheme. The new plan will involve sending paying to send potentially thousands of failed asylum seekers to the Balkans, rather than holding them in the UK until they can be removed. In some cases, those involved will be from countries like Afghanistan which are deemed too dangerous to return people to. Sir Keir was criticised by some earlier this month after delivering a speech in which he pledged to crack down on immigration and said the UK was at risk of becoming an 'island of strangers'. But liberals said his words had echoes of Enoch Powell's 'Rivers of Blood' speech in 1968, which was accused of stoking years of racism and division in the UK. Speaking on May 12, Sir Keir said he would give Brits what they had 'asked for time and time again' and 'significantly' reduce eye-watering immigration that has been inflicting 'incalculable damage'. The Home Office estimates the government's package will bring down annual inflows by around 100,000. This figure reached a record of nearly one million under the Tories. In a pivotal moment, he also rejected the Treasury orthodoxy that high immigration drives growth - pointing out the economy has stagnated in recent years. Under the blueprint, skills thresholds will be hiked and rules on fluency in English toughened. Migrants will also be required to wait 10 years for citizenship rather than the current five, and face deportation for even lower-level crimes. Graduate visas will be reduced to 18 months, and a new levy introduced on income that universities generate from international students. Requirements that sponsoring institutions must meet in order to recruit international students are also being tightened. Official figures showed net long-term inflows into the UK were 431,000 in the year to December, compared with 860,000 across 2023. Numbers had dropped to 739,000 in the year to last June - just before the election - with the peak remaining 906,000 in the 12 months to June 2023.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Sweden will step up insurance checks on foreign ships as worries about Russia rise
Sweden said Saturday it will step up insurance checks on foreign ships in a move aimed at tightening controls on Russia 's so-called "shadow fleet ' of aging ships. The government in Stockholm said that, starting July 1, the coast guard and the Swedish Maritime Administration will be tasked with collecting insurance information not just from ships that call at Swedish ports, but also those that pass through the country's territorial waters and exclusive economic zone. 'This underlines Sweden's clear presence in the Baltic Sea, which in itself has a deterrent effect,' Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in a statement. 'It also provides Sweden and our allies with important information about vessels that can be used as a basis for sanctions listings of more vessels in the shadow fleet.' Russia uses its shadow fleet to transport oil and gas, or to carry stolen Ukrainian grain. The European Union has now targeted almost 350 of the ships in total in sanctions packages, most recently on May 20. Kristersson said that 'we are seeing more and more problematic events in the Baltic Sea and this requires us not only to hope for the best, but also to plan for the worst.' The average age of the vessels is around 18 years, meaning they're near the end of their lifespan and are more vulnerable to accidents, especially if they're not well-maintained.
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Business
- Washington Post
Sweden will step up insurance checks on foreign ships as worries about Russia rise
STOCKHOLM — Sweden said Saturday it will step up insurance checks on foreign ships in a move aimed at tightening controls on Russia's so-called "shadow fleet ' of aging ships. The government in Stockholm said that, starting July 1, the coast guard and the Swedish Maritime Administration will be tasked with collecting insurance information not just from ships that call at Swedish ports, but also those that pass through the country's territorial waters and exclusive economic zone.
