Rescue teams search North Sea for two people believed to have fallen from ferry

A search is taking place off the Suffolk and Essex coast for two people missing from a North Sea ferry.
Suffolk Police were called at 10:40 GMT after the pair were reported to have gone overboard from the Stena Britannica ferry, a mile off Harwich.
A police helicopter, RAF Search and Rescue helicopter, RNLI lifeboats, coastguard teams and other vessels are involved in the search operation.
It is understood that the ferry was leaving Harwich.
In a statement, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said: "Thames Coastguard was first contacted just before 10:00 GMT this morning about reports that two people had gone overboard from a ferry approximately one mile off Harwich."
The statement said Felixstowe and Shingle Street Coastguard Rescue teams were involved in the search, along with two RNLI lifeboats from Harwich, the Walton RNLI lifeboat and the RAF Search and Rescue helicopter from Wattisham Airfield.
"They are currently involved in the search along with the ferry, tugs and other boats," it added.
Are you onboard the Stena Britannica, or are you in the area? You can get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
 
OR4751 said:
I, on the other hand, would be quite surprised. When they are being deported, illigals are returned to their country of origin.
The Stena Britannica sails on the Harwich-Hook of Holland route.
How many illegals from Holland are there in this country?
Click to expand...
A police helicopter, RAF Search and Rescue helicopter, and coastguard teams searched the Suffolk and Essex coast before being stood down at 13:30.
The two people are thought to be foreign nationals who were being deported from the UK, police said.
The Home Office declined to comment.
 
sailorman said:
A police helicopter, RAF Search and Rescue helicopter, and coastguard teams searched the Suffolk and Essex coast before being stood down at 13:30.
The two people are thought to be foreign nationals who were being deported from the UK, police said.
The Home Office declined to comment.
Click to expand...

Lots of assumptions and newspaper speculation here.
'Thought to be'... 'Police said'... Who? The Plebgate copper?

Why was the search called off? have they recovered the missing persons?
If so, they should know who they are and if they were being deported or not.
 
OR4751 said:
Lots of assumptions and newspaper speculation here.
'Thought to be'... 'Police said'... Who? The Plebgate copper?

Why was the search called off? have they recovered the missing persons?
If so, they should know who they are and if they were being deported or not.
Click to expand...

All very odd to call of the search so soon.
In the gales 3 weeks ago the LB was out in atrocious weather in Devon looking for the bloke who fell off the cliffs. & there was little hope of finding him due to the horrendous waves
 
He said the tide had been going out at a speed of three to four knots in a north-easterly direction shortly after the two people entered the water.
"There were no signs of anybody and nobody has been recovered," he said.
Piers Stanbury, watch officer for Thames Coastguard, said it had been a complex search.
"At the end we actually had 21 different units working on the search," he said.
"We had found some clothing in the water which would indicate we were in the right area.
"We absolutely saturated the area with search units. If someone had been swimming or floating in that area we would have found them."
 
The pair went overboard from the Stena Britannica ferry, a mile off Harwich, at about 09:45 GMT.
A police helicopter, RAF search and rescue helicopter, and coastguard teams searched the Suffolk and Essex coast before being stood down at 13:30.
BBC correspondent Anna Holligan said two Albanians being deported from the UK jumped overboard.
The ship was sailing from Harwich to the Hook of Holland. Ninety-two passengers had been aboard the vessel, along with 81 crew.
Our correspondent said the ferry had since docked at the Hook of Holland after being allowed to continue its journey and Dutch border police had boarded the vessel.
_73240495_bha5eomiiaai4qj.jpg
Dutch police have been seen boarding the ferry in the Netherlands
She added that disembarked passengers told her they had witnessed about eight Albanians being escorted on to the ship before it set off and officials had confiscated their passports.
A Stena Line spokeswoman in the Netherlands said a number of passengers had been refused entry into the UK, so were sent back to the Netherlands where they originally departed from.
She said the company would not comment on the identity of the missing passengers and any immigration issue was the responsibility of the UK and Dutch border controls.
She said the company did "everything it can" to ensure Stena ferries were not used by people trying to gain illegal entry into the UK.
The Home Office has declined to comment.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said two people went into the water about a mile off Harwich, but a thorough search of the area had found nothing.
 
sailorman said:
[A Stena Line spokeswoman in the Netherlands said a number of passengers had been refused entry into the UK, so were sent back to the Netherlands where they originally departed from
Click to expand...

So, to be accurate: they were not being deported, they were refused entry. Not the same thing at all.

Illegals: you are IN the country and when you are departed you are sent back to your country of ORIGIN.

When you are refused entry, you are NOT in the country (but stopped at the border) and you are sent back to where you TRAVELLED FROM.
 
OR4751 said:
So, to be accurate: they were not being deported, they were refused entry. Not the same thing at all.

Illegals: you are IN the country and when you are departed you are sent back to your country of ORIGIN.

When you are refused entry, you are NOT in the country (but stopped at the border) and you are sent back to where you TRAVELLED FROM.
Click to expand...
Still strange that the sar was short
 
The last I heard was the Captain was informed about 1/2 hour after they had gone overboard, from the existing Albanians, at which point the Ferry was at the closest point to land so I assume they thought they may have already made it to land or would have been spotted.
 
I suppose if you are on deck on a Ferry, the shore doesn't look that far away and the tide is not obvious. And if you are used to the warm waters of the Mediterranean/Adriatic/Ionian ....... Risk Assessment fail.
 
It occurred to me this morning reading the report in EADT that as the absence was reported to the crew by a fellow Albanian, and that all that was found were 2 coats, is it possible that they did not in fact jump at all?

They may either have hidden somewhere on the ship or perhaps somehow avoided being put back on the ship at all, by being reported overboard and perhaps presumed drowned they would no longer be looked for in the UK or in Holland.
 
If they were refused permission to enter the country at Harwich, why was this not picked up at the NL port of departure?

Aren't passports checked at the port of departure?
 
chinita said:
If they were refused permission to enter the country at Harwich, why was this not picked up at the NL port of departure?

Aren't passports checked at the port of departure?
Click to expand...

That rather assumes that they presented themselves for inspection at the port of departure. It ain't necessarily so.
 
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