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

Leighb said:
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.
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I think that thought is a real possibility. Had they swum, they would have come ashore wet and without anything, I can't see how they would think they would survive and not get caught
 
Eleven people are in custody in the Netherlands as part of a "human smuggling" investigation after two people reportedly jumped from a North Sea ferry.
The pair, thought to be Albanians being deported from the UK, went overboard from the Stena Britannica ferry off Harwich, Essex, on Wednesday.
Rescue teams were stood down after no sign of the pair was found.
Coastguard teams are continuing to monitor the Suffolk coastline.
The pair were reported to have jumped from the vessel at about 09:45 GMT.
Continue reading the main story[h=2]“Start Quote[/h]
We hope to find out how they got in, how much they paid and who they paid the money to”
​
Robert Van KapelRoyal Dutch Police
The ferry was later cleared to continue its journey to the Hook of Holland where 11 people are now in custody.
Robert Van Kapel, a spokesman for the Royal Dutch Police, said nine Albanians and two Vietnamese nationals were being questioned as part of an inquiry into "human smuggling".
He said they had been found in a Belgian freight vehicle trying to enter the UK.
"In England the immigrants were found stuffed in this freight vehicle and they were sent back to Holland where the boat came from," he said.
"One of the main questions we have is 'Is there a human smuggling organisation active at this time?' That's what we are trying to find out."
He said it was "unusual" that two people had jumped overboard, and that such a large number of people had been found in one vehicle.
"We hope to find out how they got in, how much they paid and who they paid the money to," he said.
 
All seems a bit odd.

So, when our Border Force discover illegals in the back of a lorry they just bung them back on the return ferry?

What do the ferry company have to say about that, I wonder!
 
I gather that is normal procedure when illegals have not "entered" the country, they just get returned to the point of origin, in this case Holland, and they have to deal with them.

Once they have entered and are found say in London, then the whole deportation issue arises and I believe they have to be returned to their country of nationality. Often they destroy identity documents to make it impossible/very difficult to determine where they came from.
 
Thanks for that.

So, it seems just bad reporting. They were not actually 'deported' as they had nowhere to be deported from.

I was not aware that the system could work quite so quickly and efficiently; but, like others, there remain doubts about whether these two did actually jump.

When I was in Singapore last, a couple of guys were picked up by a Singapore Patrol Boat in the Straits of Johore. They were originally from Burma.

They were returned to the other side of the Strait the next day - after twenty strokes of the cane. They don't take prisoners in Singapore!
 
Shocked that we can get 27 posts without anyone hoping that they are OK. It looks ominous, but I hope they are OK. It would be a relief to find them - stowed away or whatever.
 
Amulet said:
Shocked that we can get 27 posts without anyone hoping that they are OK. It looks ominous, but I hope they are OK. It would be a relief to find them - stowed away or whatever.
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If they are people trafficking as the BBC suggests then I don't mind if they didn't make it. It's modern slavery and very much on the increase, pack 25 people into a shipping container, sell them into prostitution or forced unpaid manual labour. To escape the authorities two of the ring leaders jump off the ship. I think they made their own life decisions. Redemption is for anyone but I reckon these two had other motives.
 
Lazy Kipper said:
If they are people trafficking as the BBC suggests then I don't mind if they didn't make it. It's modern slavery and very much on the increase, pack 25 people into a shipping container, sell them into prostitution or forced unpaid manual labour. To escape the authorities two of the ring leaders jump off the ship. I think they made their own life decisions. Redemption is for anyone but I reckon these two had other motives.
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If they have committed crimes I hope that they are dealt with in keeping with the law, but I hope, against the odds, that they are alive. I know nothing like enough to ascribe guilt, and find compassion a more compelling instinct. I'm glad that these people were intercepted, but hope that compassion is displayed in their treatment. That's just the way I am. Soft I guess.
 
Amulet said:
If they have committed crimes I hope that they are dealt with in keeping with the law, but I hope, against the odds, that they are alive. I know nothing like enough to ascribe guilt, and find compassion a more compelling instinct. I'm glad that these people were intercepted, but hope that compassion is displayed in their treatment. That's just the way I am. Soft I guess.
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And a good job too, there's too many 'string em up' merchants like me about! But I don't feel compassionate toward people traffickers and slavers; the problem of forced prostitution is huge even in this country with our modern liberal attitudes; in Eastern Europe it is endemic. If they were involved in people trafficking and If they have drowned then I won't shed a tear. But in all serriousness I'm glad for your compassion; and wish they had a quarter of it.
 
Lazy Kipper said:
And a good job too, there's too many 'string em up' merchants like me about! But I don't feel compassionate toward people traffickers and slavers; the problem of forced prostitution is huge even in this country with our modern liberal attitudes; in Eastern Europe it is endemic. If they were involved in people trafficking and If they have drowned then I won't shed a tear. But in all seriousness I'm glad for your compassion; and wish they had a quarter of it.
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So there not turned back by the ship load in Oz then :sleeping:
 
Lazy Kipper said:
And a good job too, there's too many 'string em up' merchants like me about! But I don't feel compassionate toward people traffickers and slavers; the problem of forced prostitution is huge even in this country with our modern liberal attitudes; in Eastern Europe it is endemic. If they were involved in people trafficking and If they have drowned then I won't shed a tear. But in all serriousness I'm glad for your compassion; and wish they had a quarter of it.
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I doubt these are people traffickers. There tends to be great pleasure amongst our services in introducing those sorts of people to the delights of the dock at Crown Court. Could be wrong of course but traffickers wouldn't take that risk since they have the trickery to come back here pretty much as they like. These were probably 'bouncers', arrived at the immi desk at Harwich without the right paperwork, possibly released from a truck on board by a driver who was prepared to take them through check-in but not run the risk of UK side searches - with the rather draconian fines that are imposed when peeps are found - and so being sent straight back whence they came. In which case it is sad that they thought it worth the risk to jump (mind you I still wouldn't rule out the Colditz style escape plan - hide on board and wait for another chance). Just to maintain a sense of depression, there was a case a few years back of an Eastern European girl who was sold in the cafe at Luton airport for £4000, that price being because she was a virgin. Several months later, can't honestly remember how long now, she was taken back there and sold on for a few hundred, her value being much reduced now as a used commodity. She was someone's daughter......

So next time you are in a Costa or Cafe Nero, have a look around you........
 
Cold shock might in fact kill almost instantly, certainly the southern North Sea in February is no place to go swimming except possibly from a beach if that is what turns you on.

If they did jump they have almost certainly drowned and their bodies will turn up somewhere along the Suffolk coast in a few days.

I agree that they would not be the traffickers, they would not risk themselves in this way, but live happily somewhere reeling in the cash from other peoples' misery.
 
Having been a CG for quite a few years I know of people jumping in from height into cold water and suffering immediate heart failure. The gory detail is that the body can continue down and stay down for maybe 6 days, eventually surfacing and getting found.
 
sailorman said:
So there not turned back by the ship load in Oz then :sleeping:
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And shameful it is. Oz is populated in large part by the descendents of illegal immigrants who somehow seem to be able to forget that fact when dealing with new would-be Australians. To quote a recent interview with one "We are not coming over here because you have better television programmes, we're coming over because people are shooting at us."
 
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