Teen pleads guilty over Channel boat with 165 migrants

Teen pleads guilty over Channel boat carrying 165 migrants Chan Mathok Atak, 19, a native of South Sudan, entered a guilty plea at Canterbury Crown Court for endangering others during a sea crossing that took place on 23 July. Rescuers expressed astonishment and alarm at the sheer number of individuals packed onto the dinghy. Witnesses said the vessel resembled a bus in size before it began to deflate while traversing the world’s busiest shipping lane. Prosecutors argued that Atak’s actions created a substantial risk of death or serious injury to those aboard the craft. They noted that the offence of endangerment at sea, recently introduced to target operators of small boats navigating the Channel, was invoked in this case. At the time of the journey, the dinghy established a new benchmark for the largest group of people transported in a single craft since the rise of dinghy arrivals on the south coast in recent years. That record has since been eclipsed; earlier this month, a purported “mega dinghy” brought 230 migrants to the UK. Atak is scheduled to be sentenced on 11 September.