'Lifeboat crews can't just leave migrants to drown'

A former RNLI officer has said lifeboat crews should always help people in distress at sea as the charity remains at the centre of a heated immigration debate.

It is nine days since 120 migrants arrived by dinghy at Eastney Beach in Portsmouth, prompting protests in which hundreds of demonstrators blocked roads in an attempt to stop coaches carrying those who had crossed the Channel.

The charity's headquarters are in Poole, Dorset, nearly 60 miles along the coast, where some volunteers have since faced abuse, including being labelled "traitors" in footage posted on social media.

But Peter Burt, who served as an RNLI officer in the town for 13 years, told the BBC that lifeboat crews had a duty to launch when people were in distress and to rescue them from drowning.

Burt was a launching authority at Poole lifeboat station, acting as a link between the Coastguard and volunteer crews and deciding whether a lifeboat should be launched.

Although he was never involved in rescuing a group of migrants, he said he understood why the charity responded.

"I understand the feeling or some of the feeling of having immigrants coming into the country illegally," he said. "But at the same time if they're there, the boat still has to launch."

He said the inflatable boats typically used for Channel crossings were "made for a one-time trip" and were unsuitable for repeated journeys unless built from much thicker material.

"They will deflate and therefore become liable to all sorts of problems, including total deflation," he said.

Burt said the RNLI could not "differentiate between who they should rescue and who they shouldn't rescue".

"You can't just leave them there to die," he added.

Neil Duncan-Jordan, Poole's Labour MP, said he acknowledged more needed to be done to prevent illegal migration but that "the way we do that is not to say that it's the fault of the RNLI".

Speaking in support of the charity following an anti-migrant protest outside its headquarters last week, he said: "We need to be respecting those people and honouring them, not saying that they're traitors to this country or unpatriotic."

Last week, the RNLI museum shut after its volunteers were targeted by anti-migrant protesters.

Alongside the NHS, Sunseeker and Lush, the RNLI HQ is one of the biggest employers in Poole, with nearly 1,000 staff. It is also home to the RNLI College, All-weather Lifeboat Centre and Lifeboat Support Centre.

The HQ has a 60-bedroom hotel that is available to members of the public when they are not being used by the trainees.

Jacqui Rock, chief executive of the Poole Business Improvement District, said the RNLI was there to help people in distress.

"The RNLI gives us something more than business, it brings people into the town," she said.

"Both in terms of their hotel accommodation, people wanting to see the tours through the All-weather Lifeboat Centre, equally the museum that we have on the quay."

The RNLI has previously told the BBC it "remains focused on our core purpose of saving lives at sea".