French charity workers accused of 'assisting trafficking' as volunteers help child migrants attempt to cross the Channel
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By MARK HOOKHAM, ASSISTANT EDITOR (INVESTIGATIONS) and GRAEME CULLIFORD
Published: | Updated:
French charity workers were last night accused of helping child migrants attempting to cross the Channel on small boats.
Astonishing video footage shows volunteers from the charity Opal'Exil accompanying a group of migrants, including several children, as they walked along the shoreline of a beach in northern France being used to launch rubber dinghies to the UK.
One male volunteer in a purple tabard is seen carrying a young child migrant, wearing a bright orange life jacket, on his shoulders, while a female volunteer appears to be holding the hands of two other migrant children.
The video, which was filmed on Wednesday at Equihen beach, just south of Boulogne-sur-Mer, shows the charity workers hurriedly taking off and hiding their tabards once they realised they were being filmed.
Callum Smiles, from online media organisation Voxpopuli, who captured the footage, said: 'I just couldn't believe it.
'Quite often these people tend to complain about there not being safe routes to the UK yet there they are carrying small children to put them into boats where there is a good chance they will die.
'It confirmed all previous suspicions that a lot of the NGOs [non governmental organisations] aren't just there to see to the well-being needs of migrants but actively take part in assisting trafficking.'
Mr Smiles said at the time the video was filmed three boats packed with migrants had already launched from that beach and two boats were around 100 yards out to sea. He said the migrants were 'bone dry' and had not been in the water but instead appeared to be trying to find a boat to take them across the Channel.
NGO staff were seen carrying migrant children on their shoulders toward dinghies bound for Britain
They removed their hi-vis jackets when they saw Vox Populi journalists filming, the outlet claimed
The film shows Mr Smiles confronting the charity workers and asking: 'Can you tell me why your charity is aiding and assisting illegal migration?' He adds: 'If any of these children die today, are you proud of yourself?
Founded last year, Opal'Exil provides food, clothing and other support to migrants attempting to cross the English Channel, with its volunteers wearing distinctive purple tabards or vets. The charity did not respond to requests for comment.
The video was taken on the same day - and on the same beach - that separate footage showed a migrant leaving a child in the water as he tried to scramble on board a small boat.
Two members of the French emergency services, who were chest deep in the water, rescued the child and placed it on a lifeguard surfboard to be taken back to the beach.
A total of 781 migrants reached the UK in 10 boats last Wednesday, a record daily high so far this year. Some 24 people died last year trying to cross the Channel, including children, down from the record year of 2024, when 73 migrants lost their lives.
Last week also saw one of the longest, and most farcical, journeys of the small boats crisis as a 40ft rubber dinghy took 36-hours to reach the UK after leaving Normandy near the famous D-Day beaches.
Speaking to the Mail on Sunday, Laurent, 61, who spotted the boat shortly after it left from a beach near the town of Port-en-Bessin said: 'When I saw the boat on Monday, I was in shock. At first I thought, maybe it is a tourist boat.
'But I took out my binoculars and saw it was very low in the water and filled with people.
'It cruised along the beach, stayed about 20 minutes and then headed back east towards Port-en-Bessin. We live in a crazy world that is for sure.'
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