Teenage migrant boat operator pleads guilty to endangering others in Channel crossing
Nineteen-year-old Chan Mathok Atak admitted to endangering passengers after piloting a dinghy that carried a record 165 migrants across the English Channel.
Chan Mathok Atak, a 19-year-old from South Sudan, pleaded guilty at Canterbury Crown Court to endangering others during a Channel crossing on 23 July. He steered a dinghy that held 165 migrants, a figure that set a new benchmark for such crossings at the time. Rescue crews were shocked by the number of people packed onto a boat roughly the size of a bus, which began to lose air in the heavily trafficked shipping lane.
Prosecutors argued that his actions exposed those aboard to a real risk of death or serious injury, invoking a recently introduced offence targeting small-boat operators. The record was later eclipsed by a “mega-dinghy” that delivered 230 migrants to the United Kingdom. Atak awaits sentencing on 11 September. The case highlights growing legal focus on migrant smuggling across the Channel.
Why it matters
The plea shows how authorities are using new laws to curb dangerous migrant boat crossings in the English Channel.
In this story
