'I just knew if I let go he wouldn't be there'

MIGRANTS begged for help after their deathtrap dinghy broke apart in the Channel, dramatic footage revealed yesterday.

- By Michael Knowles Home Affairs Editor

Rescue teams have detailed how 19 people were saved during a fatal crossing in which six died.

It is the first time details have been revealed about the rescue ordeal. As the lifeboat arrived, already carrying 68 migrants from another disaster in the Channel, people who had plunged into the water desperately swam towards the vessel as others climbed on to the wreckage of the small boat.

Reaching the lifeboat's "scramble net" the exhausted asylum seekers had to be lifted out of the water as they screamed: "Help me, please."

Scared

Everyone rescued by the RNLI during the incident in August 2023 survived, but six people pulled from the water by other vessels who responded to the emergency lost their lives.