Teenager Who Piloted Overcrowded Dinghy with 165 People on Board Jailed
The court said the crossing put 31 children at risk and lacked basic safety gear, while the record passenger count was later surpassed.
- On Friday, Chan Mathok Atak, 19, from South Sudan, was sentenced to two years and three months in prison at Canterbury Crown Court for endangering others by piloting a dinghy carrying 165 migrants across the English Channel.
- The overcrowded 14-metre-long dinghy made the July 23 journey with 165 passengers, including 31 children aged 14 to 17, in conditions the National Crime Agency described as "severely overcrowded" with a "considerable" fire risk from batteries stored near fuel cans.
- Prosecutors presented 90 minutes of aerial footage showing Atak steering the vessel while wearing a distinctive 'Italia' jacket; he later crouched among passengers and discarded it to "avoid detection as the helmsman" before Border Force intercepted the deflating craft.
- Judge Sarah Counsell ruled the offence was so serious "only an immediate custodial sentence can be justified." As a foreign national, Atak is liable for automatic deportation upon completing his sentence.
- Defense barrister Audrey Mogan urged mitigation, citing Atak's escape from "dire" conditions in South Sudan and Libya. The endangerment at sea offence, relatively new, carries a maximum five-year jail term for steering small boats across the Channel.
15 Articles
15 Articles
South Sudanese migrant jailed in UK for piloting record Channel boat crossing
A South Sudanese man was jailed for two years and three months in an English court on Friday after he admitted piloting a small boat across the Channel from France, which carried a then-record 165 people.
The Independent
The Independent (US)Teen who piloted ‘mega dinghy’ across English Channel jailed
The crossing set a record for the largest number of migrants to reach the UK on a single boat
South Sudanese national jailed for piloting small boat carrying HUNDREDS of illegal migrants across Channel
A South Sudanese national has been jailed for piloting a small boat carrying hundreds of illegal migrants across the Channel.Chan Atak, 19, was jailed at Canterbury Crown Court for two years and three months after piloting the boat across the English Channel.The vessel had 165 people on board. TRENDING Stories Videos Your Say The teenage asylum seeker piloted the overcrowded, deflating 14-metre-long dinghy across the waterway.This was a record-h…
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