Teenager jailed for piloting 'mega dinghy' across the Channel

A 19-year-old has been jailed for more than two years for piloting a "mega dinghy" carrying 167 people across the Channel.

Chan Mathok Atak, from South Sudan, was said to have been one of two pilots on the boat, which crossed from France to the UK in July.

It was estimated to be about 13m long - the same length as a bus.

At Canterbury Crown Court on Friday, Atak was sentenced to two years and three months in prison.

At the time it was intercepted, it was the most people ever found on a migrant boat in the Channel.

However, that figure has since been surpassed with 230 arriving in one vessel last month.

In August, Atak pleaded guilty to piloting the boat and prosecutors said he had created a risk of death or serious injury to those on board.

The dinghy had two outboard engines but one was not working, while tubing on the vessel had started to deflate, the court heard.

Aerial footage shows one person "constantly pumping" in an attempt to re-inflate the rigid-hulled inflatable boat.

Atak was also picked up on aerial footage operating the boat for 90 minutes wearing a black jacket with an "Italia" logo.

He then crouched down among passengers and removed his jacket "to avoid detection as the helmsman", prosecutor James Harrison said.

Sentencing him, Judge Sarah Counsell said Atak played an "important role" in controlling and navigating the boat, and it was not "fleeting or incidental involvement".

"Crossings of this nature are inherently dangerous," she said.

She said small inflatable boats of the type commonly used for these crossings are not designed for offshore sea voyages.

"Those who choose to steer such vessels assume responsibility for the safety of those on board," she added.

The judge also noted that as well as engine problems, the boat did not have navigation, emergency signalling equipment or firefighting equipment.

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Additionally, batteries and fuel containers were "stored together creating a risk of fire".

But she added there was no evidence he organised the trip or that he stood to profit from it.

The court heard Atak told police he paid €200 to a gang for the crossing.

Defending him, barrister Audrey Mogan urged the court to take into account his age, as he had turned 19 the month before the crossing.

Ms Mogan described Atak as someone who had "escaped the horrors of South Sudan", where he saw militia torch a neighbourhood, and people gunned down and with their throats slashed.

He escaped to Libya, where young asylum seekers face a "dire" situation, she said, and he was beaten and particularly targeted because of his Christianity.

"It's from there he escaped to Italy and then to France," she said.

She told the judge: "He wants me to tell this to your honour, he came here to seek sanctuary and safety, that is of course what asylum seekers are doing, to build a new life and to leave the dire circumstances where they come from, seek protection."

The court heard the sentence for Atak meant that as a foreign national he was liable in principle to automatic deportation to his country.

(c) Sky News 2026: Teenager jailed for piloting 'mega dinghy' across the Channel