Footage of the search and rescue operation off Felixstowe for two men who reportedly jumped off the morning Stena Line service to Hoek Van Holland. It is believed that these men were foreign nationals who had been refused entry in Harwich and who had been sent back to Holland on the ferry. The operation was stood down after the only trace of them was two leather jackets found in the sea.
The Coastguard has pointed out that even though the shoreline may have appeared close for strong swimmers to attempt to get ashore, there was an ebb tide at that time running at about 4 knots, and they may well have been swept out to sea which is why the search stretched up the coast to Cobbold’s Point and out to Cork Sands. On the other hand, they may have made it ashore.
On 27th February the BBC reported that the men were part of a group of Albanians and Vietnamese who had been sent back on the Britannica having arrived from Hoek earlier that morning, concealed in a Belgian truck. Eleven people have now been detained by the Dutch Police, who are investigating a possible case of organised people smuggling.
