The unrelenting number of calls to small boats has led the Royal National Lifeboat Institute to introduce new kit and training (Picture: Getty/PA)

The RNLI rescued more than 3,000 people making hazardous journeys across the English Channel over a seven-month period, figures show. 

The callouts to small boats include the timeframe’s biggest single rescue of 71 people at one time, according to the newly released dataset.

Drones and helicopters were deployed to some of the emergency responses by the national volunteer service, which can be revealed after it released dramatic images and videos of shouts in the Channel.

They included parents throwing their babies at lifeboat crews, Metro.co.uk told this week. One rescuer described ‘terrifying’ scenes of groups packed inside the ‘cheap and cynically made’ small boats.

The majority of the 3,042 incidents were responded to by Dover Lifeboat Station and in many cases Border Force also sent vessels.

The RNLI has said increases in launches at some stations is ‘unprecedented’ and has been taking place across the year, regardless of weather.  

The biggest single incident involved the rescue of 71 people by crews from Dover, the information provided by HM Coastguard under the Freedom of Information Act shows. 

A group of people are brought ashore in Dungeness, Kent, by the RNLI following a small boat incident in December (Picture: Gareth Fuller/PA)

Men come ashore in Dungeness after making the journey across the Channel from France on December 19, 2021 (Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty)

The coordinates given show it took place in the middle of the Channel, close to the Strait of Dover. Details of the rescues have been provided in data from the coastguard’s ‘joint tracker’ which covers rescues from December last year up to the end of June. 

Crew testimony and helmet camera footage was released by the RNLI this week, including a rescue of four people crossing the Channel, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. The family was believed to be from Afghanistan and included a 14-year-old girl.  

One RNLI crew member, who was not named, provided a written account of the appalling conditions the ‘selfless’ rescuers encounter when responding to small boat calls. He described how they have been given extra training on what to do if they find tens of bodies floating down in the sea and said ‘our greatest terror is not if, but when’. 

Packed dinghies made for 20 people but often with up to three times the amount are commonplace, the person said.

He described the average boat as a ‘high inflammable, rank cocktail’ at risk of splitting apart as people clamber over the sides.  

Even with lines attaching the boat to the RNLI vessels the handles can come away on the flimsy dinghies.

A crew from the Royal National Lifeboat Institute’s Dover station deliver casualty care during a small boat rescue (Picture: RNLI/rnli.org)

The harrowing conditions of people trying to cross the Channel has been described by an RNLI lifesaver (Picture: RNLI/rnli.org)

‘This is the most terrifying part,’ the volunteer said. ‘Some hold up their children, hoping we will save the most vulnerable first. Others just make a leap for it, scrambling across the churning gap between the boats, hoping that their strength will be enough to save them.

‘All we can do is our best. As the two vessels lurch unevenly side by side, rearing up and down, it feels overwhelmingly chaotic.

‘I’ve seen parents throw their babies across; I’ve seen others trampling neighbours to the floor; I’ve seen men fighting as they struggle to hold one another back; I’ve seen terror as old women hold up clasped hands in prayer, not looking to us but instead to the sky.’ 

After bringing people onboard, the rescuer described how crews hand out blankets, waterproof honchos and chocolate. 

New equipment, such as inflatable horseshoe life rings and rafts and translation cards, is in use with further kit being tested by the RNLI.  

Head of lifeboats Simon Ling said: ‘The crew testimony and rescue footage show the reality of what our volunteer lifeboat crews face when they launch to the aid of people crossing the Channel at the request of HM Coastguard.

‘We are incredibly proud of our crews who continue to respond selflessly to their pagers, day or night, simply to help others.  

‘They have responded in a humbling way to this increase in demand with continued dedication, commitment and compassion. 

‘Each time our crews are requested to launch by HM Coastguard they do so knowing that someone’s father, mother, son or daughter could end up in the water and need help.  

A rescuer holds a translation card as a crew delivers care to a young woman in the English Channel (Picture: RNLI/rnli.org)

A mass rescue simulation exercise involving Royal National Lifeboat Institute crew and lifeguards (Picture: RNLI/rnli.org)

‘They understand the potential human cost so leave behind their own families and employment to go to the aid of others.

‘We thank them for their selflessness. 

‘The challenges our crews face in this demanding search and rescue environment continue to evolve and we are continually developing new ways we can support our teams to ensure they have the best and most suitable care, protection, equipment, and training available.  

‘The welfare of our crews is extremely important to us.’ 

The RNLI, which stands for the Royal National Lifeboat Institute, is an independent charity answering emergency calls from HM Coastguard.

In turn, the coastguard is part of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. 

Eighty people were rescued from the English Channel in summer 2021 after HM Coastguard was alerted (Picture: Metro.co.uk)

Operational staffing has been increased so some RNLI stations can give breaks to volunteers being tasked repeatedly in the space of a few days.  

The data represent the charity’s portion of callouts to small boat crossings. Overall, there have been 37,570 people detected making the treacherous journey so far this year, according to provisional government figures.

Last week, there were 2,374 people in 53 boats.

Speaking via the RNLI, Mr Ling added: ‘Our crews face a difficult and ever-changing environment in the Channel and, for some of our stations, the scale of their involvement is unprecedented. 

‘We are accustomed to seeing spikes in activity around our coast throughout the summer months, partly as a result of new trends in water use but seeing year-round increases in launches and the potential impact these types of rescues have on our crew’s emotional wellbeing is not something the RNLI has been faced with before. 

‘We recognise there is more work to be done in support of our crews and this work and everyone at the RNLI remains focused on our core purpose of saving lives at sea.’ 

A damaged inflatable dinghy, outboard motors, life jackets and sleeping bags abandoned on the French coast (Picture: Pascal Rossignol/Reuters)

The government’s plan to deter small boat crossings by sending some people arriving in the UK via irregular routes to Rwanda is currently subject to legal challenges in the High Court.

The RNLI’s accounts follow Metro.co.uk revealing how the Royal Navy encountered similar harrowing scenes while on patrols in the Mediterranean. The Ministry of Defence said in August that it is preparing to review the navy’s current role in responding to the rising number of people attempting to cross the Channel in small boats.

The military had been given ‘primacy’ over the operational response to the crossings by the then Home Secretary Priti Patel in April.

The navy will continue to support the Home Office until January 2023, at which point the task is likely to fall back on Border Force and the RNLI.

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Volunteer crews are responding to ‘unprecedented’ numbers of people making the crossing from France.