If rescue services were searching for longer, many of the people who died in the Channel's immigrant dinghy to the greatest loss of life ever, family lawyers said.
Their comments came after independence Cranston enquiries This examines the situation surrounding the large number of own deaths and has heard evidence from experts about the viability of water.
Professor Michael Tipton explained how many people could have survived several hours after the boat capsized, and how many parts of the boat were able to survive once underwater.
The boat was believed to have carried 33 people, including 13 women and eight children, when it capsized on November 24, 2021.
Tipton said up to 15 people on board could still be alive, more than four hours after the dinghy capsized. The sunrise was 7:26am that day. The call of pain from the attacked dinghy began to enter just after 1am, with the last call to get lost at 3:11am. It is estimated that passengers entered the water at 3:12am or 3:13am.
Tipton said at 3:24am he believed that the majority of the dinghy people were still alive, and that perhaps eight, ten or fifteen were still alive. According to Coast Guard logs shown in the investigation, standing at Border Force's Cutter Boat Variant before 6am, returning to shore at 7:03am, 98 passengers rescued from the other dinghy were sowed, not from the dinghy, where the masses own death occurred.
Initially there was confusion as to whether the passengers of the attacked dinghy were rescued because they were confused with another dinghy in another incident.
One of two survivors, Issa Mohamed Omar, previously provided evidence from the investigation. “I'm the voice for those who have died,” he said.
He described the scene of Dinghi's despair, and people made desperate calls for help until the moment the Dinghi capsized.
“It was so cold. People were screaming when we fell into the ocean. We all thought we were dying.”
Duncan Lewis' attorney Maria Thomas represents 21 families and one survivor. “While some of us may succumb to the “cold water impact” as soon as we enter the water today, I've heard that the person on a small boat known as “Charlie” is likely to be alive for hours after the boat is cupped.
“Therefore, it is possible that additional assets were deployed to continue the search for Charlie after Variant dropped off the 98 people who rescued him back to the port on 07.03.
Enquiries continue.
