Three Iranians rescued off the coast of Sussex after their boat gets into trouble in the channel
Lifeboat saved the migrants just miles from where 18 Albanians were rescued by speedboat in May
THREE suspected Iranian migrants had to be rescued off the Sussex coast yesterday when their boat ran into trouble.
An RNLI lifeboat from Hastings, Kent, and a coastguard helicopter from Lydd scrambled to save the foreign nationals from their small boat as it struggled in the channel.
A Border Force cutter - HMC Seeker - rushed out to the boat and officials captured the three onboard.
Hastings is just 30 miles up the coast from the village of Dymchurch where 18 Albanians arrived in the middle of the night on an inflatable speedboat at the end of May.
Two Brits, Mark Stribling, 35, and former judo champ Robert Stilwell, 33, have been charged with people smuggling after the boat started taking in water and the coastguard had to rescue all 20 onboard.
The latest breach of Britain’s coast line came on Saturday morning without even the cover of darkness to hide the approach.
A Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokeswoman said: “At 9.30am on Saturday, HM Coastguard were called out to assist in an incident off the Sussex/Kent coast near Hastings to rescue three men on board a small boat, which was in trouble.
“The RNLI Hastings lifeboat and the HM Coastguard helicopter based at Lydd responded to assist the vessel.”
When they found the boat, those onboard were handed over to Border Force.
Immigration officials confirmed they are believed to be Iranian nationals and were sent to be processed.
Saturday’s rescue is the second time in a week that a group of three people thought to be from Iran have been picked up off Britain’s coastline.
On Tuesday, a Border Force cutter was sent to intercept a small boat in the Channel after three people in a vessel wearing lifejackets were spotted by a passing ferry in the Strait of Dover.
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