THE boss of the RNLI has spoken out after some lifeboat crews were heckled by the public.

The Poole-based lifeboat charity has found itself under fire for helping rescue migrants in the English Channel.

It responded by releasing two clips showing rescues in the Channel.

The clips – one from earlier this month, and the other from November 2019 – each show several people cramped onto a small inflatable before being pulled to safety by lifeboat volunteers.

Both shouts involved the rescue of several migrants, whose nationality is not known, including a baby.

In the November 2019 incident, the majority of those on board are not wearing life jackets, and appear to be dressed only in jeans, trainers and coats.

Some of those rescued appear distressed and barely able to stand, with several wearing sopping wet clothes as they clamber on board the RNLI rescue vessel.

Once pulled to safety, the lifeboat volunteers can be heard trying to reassure the migrants and treating them for sickness and exhaustion.

In the more recent clip, those rescued can be seen prone on the lifeboat deck clutching bottles of water and slumped motionless wrapped in towels.

Mark Dowie, RNLI chief executive, told the PA news agency: “The humanitarian side of this has not really been told properly.

“We wanted to tell this now, our crews are becoming busier and busier with this work.

“It’s important that what they see and what they do is properly appreciated.”

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Foreign secretary Dominic Raab said he did not think a “robust approach” to small boats crossing the Channel was at odds with the “heart and soul” of the RNLI.

Mr Raab told LBC: “The RNLI do an incredible job, they have got this great heart and soul to them and they do an amazing job.

“I think they operate within the legal rules and that is part of this country. We are a big-hearted country. At the same time, if we are talking about the wider small boats issue, that is something where, absolutely at the same time, we need to come down as hard as is humanly possible, working with our French partners.”