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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Diane Taylor

UK and French coastguards ‘passed buck’ as 27 people drowned in Channel

People’s belongings, along with a deflated dinghy, life jacket and engines, lie on a beach in Wimereux, near Calais, the morning after the drownings
People’s belongings, along with a deflated dinghy, life jacket and engines, lie on a beach in Wimereux, near Calais, the morning after the drownings. Photograph: Kiran Ridley/Getty Images

UK and French emergency coastguard services spent crucial hours passing the buck about which of them should rescue a stricken small boat trying to cross the Channel last November, instead of dispatching a crew to save the 34 people onboard, a documentary reveals.

Most of the migrants subsequently drowned in the worst maritime disaster in the Channel for 30 years.

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