Four migrants who died in Channel were in dinghy ‘wholly unsuitable to make the crossing’

Nearly 40 others were rescued after a boat start sinking in the Channel in December

Four people who died in the Channel this month were in a dinghy that was “wholly unsuitable to make the crossing”, an inquest has heard.

The victims of the 14 December tragedy are still unidentified, Kent coroner Katrina Hepburn said on Friday morning.

She recorded a provisional cause of death from drowning for the four.

It is “possible” two of them were Afghans, while the others were Senegalese, a report by detective inspector Ross Gurden of Kent Police said.

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

Migrants being rescued from sinking boat (left) and Police Forensic officers head to the forensic tents erected at the RNLI station at the Port of Dover (Sky News/PA)

Women and children were believed to be among those who needed hospital treatment after the incident.

A group of fishermen were the first to discover the stranded migrants, with one crew member telling Sky News at the time that he had heard people “screaming for help”.

Skipper Raymond said: “It was like something out of a second World War movie, there were people in the water everywhere, screaming.”

Raymond’s fishing crew then spent two hours pulling people from the water. They gave the migrants a “lukewarm shower” and new clothes to keep warm.

Pictures of the vessel, when it was still in the Channel, showed the migrant’s dinghy above the water but contorted and folded in on itself.

Mobile phones and paperwork were recovered from the scene but have been damaged by seawater, the coroner said.

Detective inspector Ross Gurden wrote in a report that a private fishing vessel had encountered the migrants’ boat, a dinghy with a motor, in distress at 3:24am .

The boat was described as “wholly unsuitable to make the crossing”.

The coroner said on Friday: “The provisional cause of death is consistent with drowning.”

Forensic officers head to the forensic tents erected at the RNLI station at the Port of Dover (PA Wire)

Ms Hepburn suspended proceedings until a later date amid an ongoing police investigation.

Detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate are investigating the circumstances of the tragedy. Ibrahima Bah, 19, has been arrested in connection with the incident.

He was charged on Sunday with knowingly facilitating the attempted arrival in the UK of people he knew or had reasonable cause to believe were asylum seekers.

He has pled not guilty to the offence in court.