Channel chaos laid bare in distress calls
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 15 October 2025
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
With increasing numbers of people crossing the Channel in small boats, emergency call logs lay bare the fears faced by those trying to reach Britain. These calls highlight the risks taken every day by those at the centre of this growing crisis.
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Guest: Emma Yeomans, News reporter, The Times.
Host: Luke Jones.
Producer: Edward Drummond.
Read more: Bigger, deadlier crossings: distress calls show migrant crisis has changed
Further listening: The human cost of the migrant crisis
Clips: ITV News, The Times, GB News.
Photo: Getty Images
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Grand Sumo Tournament comes to the Royal Albert Hall. |
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| 0:31.8 | A new weekly podcast from The Times and the Sunday Times. |
| 0:35.2 | With me, Hannah Previtt, the Sunday Times, Associate Business Editor. And me, Dominic O'Connell from Times Radio. From boom to bust, the business tells you the inside story. From the high street to the boardroom, we'll bring you unparalleled insights. We'll talk to unicorns, market movers and city CEOs. Join us every Thursday. Search for the Business from the Times on your podcast app. |
| 0:55.6 | You're the business. No, Hedy. You're the business. |
| 0:57.8 | No. This is the business. |
| 1:00.3 | The Business is sponsored by PWC. I'm standing here on Gravelyne's Beach, where two groups of between 30 and 40 migrants have just run out of the town and out of the dunes in preparation to board |
| 1:28.4 | small boats towards Britain. |
| 1:30.6 | My colleague Emma Yeomens has been reporting from the front line of the small boats crisis |
| 1:34.7 | for years. |
| 1:37.1 | Out at sea we can see two dinghies. |
| 1:39.4 | One is motoring towards us, presumably, to pick up this group of people. |
| 1:43.2 | The boat's already quite full. |
| 1:45.0 | We can see from here there are dozens of people on it. |
| 1:47.0 | So how the 60-odd people on this beach will get aboard, |
| 1:50.0 | it seems unlikely that everyone will get a place today. |
| 1:53.0 | Back on shore, here, the politicians are talking as tough as ever. |
| 1:59.0 | We will stop the boats. We now have. We will stop the boats. |
... |
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