The BBC has defended its reporting of an attempt by migrants to cross the English Channel during which five people, including a seven-year-old girl, died. A dinghy carrying more than 100 people set off from Wimereux, northern France, at about 6am on Tuesday (April 23) and got into difficulties.
Three men, a woman and the child were killed, according to the French coastguard. Some 49 people were rescued. Fifty-eight others refused to leave the boat and continued their journey to the UK.
The BBC was filming in the location on the same day and captured the crossing attempt. News of the tragedy came just hours after Parliament passed legislation aimed at putting the Government’s Rwanda asylum scheme into effect.
In its report, the BBC showed some of the migrants battling to get onto the overloaded boat. Some BBC viewers were left reeling after watching the broadcaster’s report.
Andrew Smith complained to BBC Newswatch: “In my opinion the presence of the BBC reporter and cameras on the beach dissuaded the police from confronting the illegal migrants and smugglers. Leave the French police to do their job.”
Fellow viewer, Lynda Draycott, said: “A question: how come the BBC was on the beach at exactly the moment the illegal immigrants took to the Channel – a trip that cost a child its life?”
BBC reporter Tom Symonds explained earlier this week that the coastline in the area measures about 43 miles (70km) and it is “very hard” to know where the boats are leaving from.
He added: “We just got lucky. The boat did come and people ran across and jumped into it. The police seemed to come at us and say, ‘You knew that this was going to happen… They took our IDs. They were quite angry really.
“So I think they were thinking that somehow we’d done a deal with the migrants to film them leaving. We absolutely didn’t and wouldn’t do that.”
BBC News told Newswatch in a statement: “There is significant interest in people attempting to cross the Channel to the UK. We believe first-hand reporting is highly valued by audiences.
“Our reporters near Calais had no forewarning of any particular attempt to make the crossing, but went to locations where boats had previously departed and reported what they found.
“They did not impede the work of the police, but showed the challenges they faced trying to stop boats departing.”
Two men have been charged with immigration offences in connection with the investigation into the deaths of the five migrants.
Yien Both, a 22-year-old from South Sudan, was charged with assisting unlawful immigration and attempting to arrive in the UK without valid entry clearance.
Tajdeen Abdulaziz Juma, a 22-year-old Sudanese national, was charged with attempting to arrive in the UK without valid entry clearance.
At Folkestone Youth Court on Friday (April 26), district judge William Nelson said there was “real doubt” over the defendants’ ages after the defendants said they were 15 and 16 years old.
The National Crime Agency had said it is working with Kent Police, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force to support a French-led investigation into what happened on the beach near Wimereux.
