Refugee and migrant boats are rarely found in Dutch waters, and authorities are still trying to establish where this one came from. Posted on October 31, 2026 October 31, 2026 Authorities in the Netherlands rescued 38 people found adrift in a rubber boat off the Dutch coast, in one of the first interceptions of its kind in the country. Two of the people aboard the boat when it was rescued were believed to be smugglers, while the rest are immigrants, military police spokesman 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 ship was going,” Wallin said. The ship was discovered drifting without a motor off the coast of the Dutch province of Zeeland, far southwest of Amsterdam. Nobody was wearing a life jacket. All 38 on the boat were men, 36 of whom were from Afghanistan and two, the alleged smugglers, were from Sudan, according to the AFP news agency. The two Sudanese have been arrested on suspicion of human trafficking. It is not known where the ship was headed, but crossings of refugees and migrants in small boats from France to the United Kingdom have become common in recent years. However, it is unusual for ships to be discovered in Dutch waters. “These are things you normally see in France and Belgium. We rarely see them here in the Netherlands before today,” Wallin said. Dutch authorities will open an investigation into the case on Sunday.
