Dutch authorities rescue 38 people adrift in rubber boat

Refugee and migrant boats are rarely found in Dutch waters, and authorities are still trying to establish where this one came from.

Authorities in the Netherlands have rescued 38 people found adrift in a rubber boat off the Dutch coast, in one of the first such interceptions for the country.

Two of the people on board the dinghy when it was rescued are thought to be smugglers, while the rest are migrants, military police spokesperson Doron Wallin told The Associated Press news agency on Saturday.

“We don’t know where they came from – France, the Netherlands or Belgium – and we don’t know where the boat was heading,” Wallin said.

The boat was discovered drifting with no motor off the coast of the Netherlands’ Zeeland province, far southwest of Amsterdam. No one was wearing a life vest.

All 38 on the boat were men, 36 of whom were from Afghanistan, and two – the suspected smugglers – were from Sudan, according to the AFP news agency. The two Sudanese men have been arrested on suspicion of people smuggling.

It is not known where the boat was headed, but refugee and migrant crossings in small boats from France to the United Kingdom have become commonplace in recent years. It is unusual for boats to be discovered in Dutch waters, however.

“These are things you usually see in France and Belgium. We rarely see it here in the Netherlands before today,” Wallin said.

Dutch authorities will open an investigation into the case on Sunday.