I'll build a new boat! Afghan who tried to cross Channel on raft with a bedsheet sail (having previously tried to swim across twice) says he'll keep trying... because Britain's not racist

Afghan migrant Asif Hussein Khail rescued after trying to cross Channel



He paddled through the water on a makeshift raft to start a new life in Britain



Mr Khail had already tried to swim the dangerous waters twice before



The 33-year-old said: 'I am going to keep trying my luck, by any means'



Asif Hussainkhil, 33, from Kabul, pictured with his makeshift tent in Calais, France, where he was returned by coastguards after trying to sail a homemade raft across the Channel to England

Coastguards told him he could have drowned and his friends think he is crazy.



But even though his attempt to cross the Channel on a flimsy raft ended in disaster, Afghan migrant Asif Hussainkhil is determined to try again.

After recovering from hypothermia brought on by his failed bid to reach Britain, he told the Mail: ‘I will keep trying because it is my destiny to get to England.’



The 33-year-old tried to cross the Channel on Monday with a raft made of six nailed-together bits of plank, with a bedsheet as a sail.

His craft had no rudder to steer it, and was only kept afloat by a piece of polystyrene covered with a tarpaulin. Mr Hussainkhil also had no compass to guide him.

French coastguards said he was being blown wildly off course towards the rougher seas of the Atlantic Ocean when he was picked up.

Now, despite the obvious pitfalls of his plan, Mr Hussainkhil has already started collecting the materials he needs to build a similar raft.

‘The police have destroyed my boat so I am going to build another one,’ he said.

‘But I would have made it to England on Monday if the coastguards did not pick me up. I am very cross with them.

‘During my journey, I was singing to myself as I was sailing because I was so happy. I am certain I was going the right way.’



His four-hour attempt to cross the world’s busiest shipping lane took him into the path of a P&O passenger ferry.



He said: ‘Some people thought I got too close to the ferry, but I knew what I was doing. I got out of the way in time.

'In fact, as I sailed past I waved at the passengers and said “Hi”. I told them I had a better boat than they did.’

Mr Hussainkhil told the Mail he left his home village of Mussahi, 15 miles south of Afghan’s capital Kabul, aged 19 because the Taliban were putting pressure on him to join them.

If you got points for effort... French coast guard rescue Asif Hussein Khail who tried to cross the Channel on a makeshift raft using a bedsheet as a sail

Afghan migrant Asif Hussainkhil with his makeshift tent in Calais, France, where he was returned by coastguards after his latest attempt to cross the Channel. He has vowed to build a new boat.

Since then he has travelled through nine countries, including Iran, Serbia and Switzerland, before moving to France to try and get to Britain. He is now living in a tent in Calais.

He said: ‘I’ve lived and worked in lots of places but many of the people in those countries were racist towards me. So I wanted to keep moving on.

‘I’ve heard good things about the treatment of people in England. It is my dream to get there and I will keep trying.

Mr Hussainkhil’s failed boat trip is his third attempt to reach Britain.

On the two previous occasions he tried to swim across the 21-mile Channel with a pair of wooden fins attached to his feet.



He was picked up by coastguards after three hours on his first attempt and after one hour on the second try.

‘I want to work really hard in England and show the people there how I can be of service to their society.’



He added: ‘This time I’m going to build a special boat which will go faster than the last one so that I won’t get caught. It’s not dangerous on the sea. I know I can get there. It’s my dream.’

French Coastguard chief Bernard Barron said the Afghan's solo sail was undoubtedly nothing to do with the gangs of people smugglers currently operating in Calais. ’

‘They do not encourage migrants to travel alone, and certainly not in the sea,’ he said.

France is to bulldoze camps containing hundreds of illegal migrants hoping to travel to Britain from Calais because of a growing danger to public health, it emerged today

Local prefect Denis Robin also said there were particular 'fears for public health', especially as the makeshift camps do not have basic supplies like water

Last month four would-be immigrants to Britain were taken to hospital suffering from severe hypothermia after being caught in the sea off Calais.

In a further sign of the desperate methods being used by the migrants, all were trying to get aboard England-bound ferries moored in the harbour.

It follows four other migrants dying in a single week in Calais as they risked life and limb for the chance to claim residency in the UK.

Clutching waterproof bundles full of food and other essentials, the men swam out from Fort Risban, part of the city’s ancient fortifications.

‘The idea was to swim out to the ferries so as to avoid customs and other checks,’ said a local police spokesman.

‘Fisherman spotted them, and alerted the authorities. Port patrol cars were on the quay alongside them within a few minutes.’

Police in the French port said that many of the settlements would be 'cleared by the end of next week,' to stop them getting bigger

The migrants play a nightly game of cat and mouse with the police as they try their luck at getting to Britain

Three of the men were plucked out of the water relatively easily, but one went missing and got into difficulty into deep water.

The body of an Eritrean who also tried to swim across the harbour drowned in exactly the same spot last October.

Hundreds of migrants from outside the EU are living in a camp yards from the perimeter fence of Calais port.

Charities say there are more than 650 in the town, the greatest number since the closure of the Red Cross camp at Sangatte in 2002 – and they are taking advantage of gaps in security and a minimal police presence.

There are currently up to 1000 migrants living rough in Calais, with up to 650 around the port area alone

On March 9 an Albanian man was killed on a motorway outside the town. Three days later, Ethiopian Mesfin Germa was hit by a lorry as he walked to the port.

The body of a 25-year-old Ethiopian man, Senay Berthay, was found in Calais’s Batellerie dock on March 14 and the next day a fellow Ethiopian in his 20s was crushed to death by a car while hiding on a vehicle transporter.

It is thought he had been among a group of three men who got on the truck and then realised it was going in the wrong direction.