# Migrant boat found off Cadzand left from Dutch soil

> The Public Prosecution Service says the rubber boat carrying 38 people set off from Dutch territory, and asylum minister Bart van den Brink calls it "very worrying" but announces no extra measures yet.

Migration · published 2026-11-06 14:15 · https://nlnow.nl/a/migrant-boat-found-off-cadzand-left-from-dutch-soil/

A rubber boat with 38 migrants, found drifting off Cadzand in Zeeland on Saturday, set off from Dutch territory, the Public Prosecution Service (Openbaar Ministerie) said on Thursday. The boat had lost its engine and could not be steered.

On board were 36 Afghans and two Sudanese. The two Sudanese are suspected human smugglers and have been arrested. The Afghans were taken in across the Netherlands and are going through the asylum procedure (vreemdelingenprocedure).

Asylum minister Bart van den Brink (CDA) said it is "very worrying" that a migrant boat appeared in Dutch waters, apparently having left from the Netherlands. He said it is the first time such a boat has been seen here. "This has been going on around Calais for a while. It was heading towards Belgium too, and now we have seen it in the Netherlands for the first time," he said.

The minister announced no extra measures. He wants the investigation to establish what happened first, then will look at what measures may be needed. "We will be very alert to this," he said. He called it "hopeful" that the two suspected smugglers were arrested, and said their questioning can help the investigation.

France recently stepped up coastal checks on migrant boats. Van den Brink could not say whether that is why these migrants chose a more northern route. Nor could he say whether the Netherlands will now see more people trying to cross to the United Kingdom from its coast. "We hope not, because this is of course totally undesirable and also life-threatening," he said.

Van den Brink said colleagues in France, Belgium and the UK had raised concerns about migrant boats with him before. Of the drifting boat he said: "And then you're just bobbing about out there. So it is life-threatening."

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