RNLI releases Channel rescue footage as Saving Lives at Sea returns to BBC Two

Saving Lives at Sea returns to BBC Two this week with a new series featuring never seen before footage and interviews with Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) volunteers from a rescue in the English Channel. The harrowing rescue – captured on the helmet cameras of the volunteer lifeboat crew - saw 19 people rescued from the water after Dover RNLI responded to an early morning mayday.

The crew had been preparing to return to Dover with 68 casualties on board from an earlier small boat incident when they were re-tasked by HM Coastguard, the government agency which coordinates all search and rescue activity around the UK.

When they arrived on scene they were confronted with a sinking dinghy and multiple screaming people fighting for their lives in the water.

‘It was a shock,’ said volunteer crew member Paula Lain, who is known to her crew mates as Panda.

‘We were looking at people in the water, some of them disappearing under the water and it was at that moment we all took stock. Our training kicked in and we leapt to it. We were pulling people out as fast as we possibly could.

‘There was this man who was holding onto the edge of the boat. He had no strength left. I leant over; I laid on my front and I grabbed his arms - he had no strength to hold me. I looked into his eyes, his face was grey, his eyes were wide, he was so scared.

‘I just knew that if I let him go, he wouldn’t be there. There was absolutely no way I was going to let him go. I held onto him and I called for help with my colleagues and together we pulled him to safety.’

Some were not so lucky though, with other rescue vessels on scene reporting six fatalities.

In 2024 the RNLI launched 114 times to Channel crossing incidents which was 1.2% of the total number of RNLI launches for the entire UK and Ireland last year.

During those shouts they rescued 1,371 people which is 3.7% of the total number of people recorded to have crossed the Channel in small boats last year with the rest aided by other agencies such as Border Force.

RNLI Head of Lifeboats Simon Ling said: ‘Our volunteer lifeboat crews are normal people doing extraordinary things, often in the most challenging circumstances imaginable and we are extremely proud of their continued commitment to saving lives at sea.

‘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. They are often confronted with highly challenging rescue scenarios, involving large numbers of distressed people in the water.

‘We are incredibly proud of our crews who continue to respond selflessly to their pagers, day or night, simply to help others. We know that anyone can drown but no one should and each time our crews are requested to launch by HM Coastguard they do so knowing that someone’s father, mother, son or daughter need our help.

‘We are a voluntary lifesaving rescue service, and will rescue anyone in trouble at sea, as the RNLI has been doing for more than 200 years, without judgement or preference.’

Another rescue etched in Paula’s memory involved a desperate mother.

‘There was a mother holding her baby in arms,’ said Paula. ‘She was in a very vulnerable position on a boat that was likely to go pop. She had to pass her precious baby to me, a stranger, knowing that was probably the only way her baby might survive. It was an incredibly powerful, unspoken engagement between myself and this stranger.

‘When you save someone’s life, it’s an amazing feeling, it’s an absolute privilege. To be there at the right time to help somebody in distress is an incredible feeling and I feel very proud and privileged that I’m part of an organisation that saves lives at sea.’

Walmer RNLI helm Dan Sinclair is another volunteer with experience of saving lives in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

‘One thing that I would like people to understand and to realise is that when we are tasked to a small boat somewhere in the Channel, these people genuinely need our help. They are in distress.

‘They’re in unseaworthy boats offshore, taking on water in all states and conditions. They could be frozen, their legs could be paralysed, they can’t talk, they’ve been in that position for ages, they could be crushed, families separated. We’re doing what we can to try and help save every single person, to keep families united and to keep people alive.

‘One rescue that will stay with me forever was a small boat taking on water. It had a family on board, men, women and children but there was a particular family on there who were so scared.

‘They were screaming, they were really upset, they didn’t know what was happening next. The boat was overcrowded, it was unseaworthy, and it was sinking in front of their eyes, a position which I hope I’m never in myself. A horrible, horrible, horrible situation.

‘We managed to rescue that family and we saved them, we stopped them from drowning.

‘There was a little girl on that boat, she looked at me straight in the eye and said: “I love you, thank you”. As a father that was straight through my heart. When I got home, I knew I had to go speak to my daughter and give her a big cuddle and a big kiss. It just put lots of things into perspective that these people need our help.’

Notes to editors

• No interviews are available
• Click this link to download helmet camera rescue footage featuring Dover RNLI (August 2023) and Walmer RNLI (December 2022)
• For the facts about the RNLI’s Channel work please click this link
• Saving Lives at Sea series 10 starts this Thursday at 8pm on BBC Two and iPlayer featuring RNLI rescues from Newbiggin, Dover, Moelfre and Skerries

Key facts about the RNLI

The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,700 lives.

Learn more about the RNLI

For more information please visit the RNLI website or Facebook, X, TikTok and YouTube. News releases, videos and photos are available on the News Centre.

Contacting the RNLI - public enquiries

Members of the public may contact the RNLI on 0300 300 9990 (UK) or 1800 991802 (Ireland) or by email.