Dramatic footage shows RNLI lifeboat crew pulling family from stricken dinghy in the Channel | UK News

Dramatic footage shows a flotilla of lifeboats rescuing five people from the English Channel.

The video shows the crew carrying migrants, including a 14-year-old girl, onto their boat and desperately trying to keep them sober.

Among the five people towed to safety was said to be a family of four from Afghanistan.

In the helmet shot, a member of the crew can be heard shouting to his shipmates, “serious people, one man can’t breathe”.

It then shows the crew pulling an exhausted man in a red life jacket onto their boat and carrying them across the deck.

Others rescued from the dinghy could be seen lying on the ship as the crew worked frantically to keep them awake.

Members of the crew could be heard shouting “hello” and urging people to open their eyes.

After wrapping them in blankets, they reassured the sobbing migrants that they were safe, boarding a lifeboat and about to be brought back to shore.

A member of the crew encouraged them to continue shaking so he could hear that they were still awake.

He could then be heard saying, “Stay awake mate, OK”.

All those pulled from the sea struggled to retain consciousness.

After that, it seems a person had to be given oxygen.

Fortunately, all those rescued by the crew on this occasion survived.

A volunteer for the Royal National Rescue Institute, who has answered similar calls in the past, revealed that he and his crew members lived in fear of finding “the goods”. dozens of bodies” floating in the sea and even recently received training on how to give birth at sea.

“The dinghys are always packed the same way – women and children huddled on thin plywood floors, men sit outside, perched on the inflated hull,” he said.

“In the past, the dinghy had only 20 people. Now, we usually pick up boats with two or three times the number. The bottom of the boat is often filled with a mixture of seawater, gasoline and vomit.

“Floating on top of this highly flammable, graded cocktail – among the plastic bags and damaged furniture – you can also see a foot pump and a pile of hoses inside the bike in case the boat sinks .”

He added that their biggest concern when trying to tow a sideboat was that the cheap, overcrowded vessel would split and take the terrified passengers into the water.

RNLI’s Head of Lifeboats, Simon Ling, said: “We are used to seeing activity around our shores spike during the summer months, in part as a result of the new water usage trend but see a year-round increase in launches and potential impact These kinds of rescues having an emotional impact on our crew is not something the RNLI had to faced before.

“We recognize that there is more work to be done to support our crews and this work and everyone at RNLI remains focused on our core purpose of saving lives at sea.”