Control Room Scene of Gruesome Bloodbath

Documents reveal that migrant boats were not assisted due to British coast guard staff shortages, despite multiple distress calls. Calls were either transferred or utterly disregarded. The control room was described as a “bloodbath”.

Early morning distress calls to the Dover coastguard, including pleas for help from a sinking boat, were ignored due to the precarious situation.

The Guardian and Liberty Investigates have published excerpts from the British Coast Guard logbooks. These documents reveal a lack of response to the disaster that killed 31 migrants in the Channel on November 24, 2021. The logs are unusually sparse, with emergency call details notably absent. The case of the distressed boat was closed without resolution.

“Carnage in the control room”

Logbook excerpts from November 20, 2021 reveal that the Dover coastguard received an overwhelming 27 calls within two hours, managed by a team of three. Many calls were forwarded due to the team’s inability to handle the volume.

Maritime experts describe the logbook staff as “overwhelmed” and report a “massacre” in the control room. The coast guard was inundated with migrant boats and faced severe staff shortages, leading to unmanageable workloads and long, break-less shifts.

“There appears to have been a massacre in the control room”

Maritime experts

The November 24, 2021 disaster was also exacerbated by staff shortages, with only two operators in the control room, including a trainee.

Although there were plans to increase coast guard staff, additional workers were not deployed until March 2022.

Presently, the control room staff has increased from four to twenty. This expansion aims to prevent future shipwrecks.