Asylum seekers 'lilo freedom bid fails

Two would-be asylum seekers today used children’s inflatable rafts in a desperate bid to paddle across the Channel.

The pair, thought to be from Lithuania and Russia, had been on what coastguards described as ‘‘two children’s lilos’’ for 10 hours as they tried to navigate their way across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

They were eventually picked up about seven miles off Calais by the P&O Stena Line ferry Provence and taken back to France, Dover Coastguard said.

A coastguard spokesman said it was one of the most desperate bids to get across the English Channel yet.

‘‘I’d call it desperate more than dangerous,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s unbelievable.’’