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.

A rigid-hull inflatable boat operated by Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, sails near a refugee and migrant boat during a search and rescue operation in the central Mediterranean Sea, on October 4, 2026 [Reuters/Manon Cruz]

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.

难民和移民船只很少出现在荷兰水域，当局仍在努力查明这艘船的来源。

2026年10月4日，在地中海中部海域，一艘由无国界医生组织（MSF）运营的硬壳充气艇在搜救行动中靠近一艘难民和移民船。[路透社/Manon Cruz]

荷兰当局在荷兰海岸附近救起了38名在橡皮艇上漂流的人员，这是该国首次进行此类拦截行动。

军事警察发言人多伦·瓦林周六告诉美联社，获救的小艇上的两人被认为是走私者，其余人员是移民。

“我们不知道他们来自哪里——法国、荷兰还是比利时——我们也不知道这艘船要去哪里，”沃林说。

这艘船在荷兰泽兰省海岸附近被发现，当时它没有动力，正在漂流，地点位于阿姆斯特丹西南方向很远的地方。船上没有人穿救生衣。

据法新社报道，船上38人均为男性，其中36人来自阿富汗，两人——涉嫌走私者——来自苏丹。这两名苏丹男子因涉嫌人口走私被捕。

目前尚不清楚这艘船的目的地，但近年来，难民和移民乘坐小船从法国前往英国已屡见不鲜。然而，在荷兰水域发现船只的情况却十分罕见。

“这些现象通常在法国和比利时才会出现。在荷兰，我们以前很少见到，”瓦林说道。

荷兰当局将于周日对此案展开调查。