A BBC investigation has exposed the French and UK operations of a powerful and violent smuggling gang taking people across the English Channel in small boats.

A reporter, posing as a migrant wanting to cross, helped us gain unprecedented access to the smugglers’ notorious forest hideout in northern France – an area plagued by armed battles between rival gangs.

Secret filming at a major UK railway station also captured associates of the gang collecting cash payments to secure migrant places on illegal Channel crossings.

Two men met us on separate occasions on the busy concourse at Birmingham’s New Street Station to collect envelopes containing hundreds of pounds.

Multiple sources have described how gang leaders, who keep one step ahead of the authorities by changing mobile phone numbers and the gang’s name, subjected their henchmen and migrants to violent beatings.

We have managed to identify three men – Jabal, Aram and al-Millah – all Iraqi-Kurds, who are believed to lead the outfit, which is one of the main groups in northern France transporting people to the UK by small boat.

We have also come across other senior figures, including a man called Abdullah, whom we witnessed shepherding groups of migrants towards boats. Another gang member, Besha, who had escorted migrants in France, took a small boat to the UK himself, we learned, ending up in a migrant hostel in West Yorkshire having claimed asylum.

The findings are the culmination of months of undercover fieldwork and the creation of multiple fake identities to engage with the smugglers. We have been able to build a detailed picture of the gang’s tentacle-like structure and the ways it has successfully evaded the police.

Our investigation began in April 2024, after we witnessed French police trying to stop the gang from launching an inflatable boat into the Channel. In the chaos, five people were trampled to death onboard, including a 7-year-old girl named Sarah.

“There’s no danger,” said smuggler Abdullah last week, as he spoke to our undercover colleague and gestured towards a cluster of tents hidden deep within a forest outside the French port of Dunkirk.

“You are welcome to stay here. We’ll get a boat ready nearby and set to sea. We need to move early to avoid the police – it’s a cat and mouse game,” Abdullah continued, with the reassuring smile of an airline official at a check-in counter. “God willing, the weather will be on our side.”

The trip across the Channel would be with “a mixture of Somalis, Sudanese, Kurds and so on”, he explained, boasting about two successful launches the previous week, with 55 people on each.

“Should I bring a lifejacket?” asked our colleague, an Arabic-speaking BBC reporter, posing as a Syrian migrant and wearing a hidden camera.

“That’s really up to you,” the smuggler replied.

Criss-crossed by narrow sandy paths, the forest is beside a main road, a huge canal and a train line, some 4km (2.5 miles) from the French coast. For years, rival gangs and their customers have hidden from the French police here – the gangs’ spotters carefully guarding every possible entrance.

Deadly gun battles and stabbings are not uncommon here, particularly during the summer, as gangs settle scores and compete over the lucrative and highly competitive small-boat people-smuggling industry. The day after our encounter, we heard of another fatal shooting.

Abdullah was, we knew, an increasingly powerful and trusted figure in a gang that has emerged as one of the key players in northern France.

It is one of perhaps four gangs now managing crossings and specific launch areas themselves – rather than simply supplying passengers like many of the smaller gangs.

Abdullah was, we suspected, a close relative of a more senior figure. Well-dressed, friendly, and constantly on the phone with clients, he seemed entirely at ease in the forest.

“No worries,” he smiled, as our undercover colleague declined the offer of an overnight stay in the camp and left.

A few days later we would be following the gang and its paying clients towards the coast, as they tried to hide from the police, through the night, in a different wooded area.

Abdullah would even try to convince our reporting team that he was just another desperate person trying to reach the UK, rather than a smuggler making hundreds of thousands of pounds by risking people’s lives in the Channel.

When we first began to investigate the gang, it was known to those using its services as The Mountain (or Jabal, in Arabic). That was the word customers would use when making payments – and the word we had heard from those who had been on Sarah’s ill-fated boat.

We soon learned that Jabal was also the name of one of the gang’s leaders, all from the same area of Iraqi Kurdistan, near the city of Sulaymaniyah.

Jabal controlled logistics from Belgium and France. Another man, Aram, had spent time in Europe but now appeared to be back in Iraq, possibly more involved in drumming up new customers. The third leader, even more shadowy than the others, was known as al-Millah (The Chief in English). He appeared to take a lead on the gang’s financial operations.

In June 2024, we tracked down Jabal to a migrant reception centre in Luxembourg and confronted him on the street. He denied any involvement and, although we promptly informed the French police, quickly disappeared.

“He fled after your intervention in Luxembourg, and he changed his phone and probably fled abroad,” said Xavier Delrieu, who heads the French police’s anti-smuggling unit. “His whereabouts are now unknown. The investigation is continuing.”

Delrieu later told us there had been “one arrest [of an Iraqi] linked to Sarah’s death”, but declined to give any further information, citing operational secrecy. We do not believe Jabal has been arrested.

“As long as it is profitable, they’re going to continue,” said Delrieu.

Pascal Marconville, lead prosecutor at the regional Court of Appeal for northern France, agreed: “It’s like chess. And they have [the advantage] on the board. So, they’re always one step ahead of us.”

It is a gloomy assessment, backed up by some of our own findings during this investigation, and it shows how difficult it may be for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to deliver on his promise to “smash the gangs”.

The UK-French “one-in, one-out” pilot scheme, now in force, will “deliver real results”, says Mr Starmer. The deal will see some of those arriving in small boats detained and returned to France.

After Jabal’s disappearance in Luxembourg, we returned to northern France to continue our investigation. We spoke to more than a dozen people who had used the gang to reach – or to try to reach – the UK by small boat.

With their help, and by analysing other footage we had filmed the night of Sarah’s death, we identified several junior gang members – known as “small hands” or simply “guides” in Kurdish, including some who had helped launch Sarah’s boat.

We tracked the small hands on their social media accounts as they moved around Europe, often seeming to flaunt their wealth.

One middle-ranking smuggler known as Besha, we learned, had left on a small boat with his Iranian girlfriend to claim asylum in the UK. We had first begun following him, undercover, as he escorted groups of migrants from Calais to Boulogne train station, ahead of attempts to cross the Channel.

Months later, we tracked him and his girlfriend to a migrant hostel in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. We staked it out for three days but lost track of them when they left suddenly.

After Sarah’s death, and the extensive publicity it attracted, the gang changed its name from The Mountain, to Ghali Ghali. It is an unusual Arabic and Kurdish phrase that may perhaps be best translated as “Exclusive”.

For a time, we heard lots of talk of Ghali Ghali, both online and at the train and bus stations in Calais and beyond. The gang was known to be cheap and relatively reliable. Some people who had failed to cross the Channel with the group said they had been reimbursed promptly. For plenty of migrants, the gangs are seen primarily not as dangerous criminals but as entrepreneurs offering a valuable service.

Then the gang changed its name twice more – firstly to al-Millah, the nickname of the shadowy third gang leader, and then to Kaka, which means Brother but is also, we believe, another of his nicknames. More recently at least two other names have been used.

Unlike many other gangs – who advertise prominently online, particularly on TikTok, using videos of crossings and other scenes, and seek to appeal to particular ethnic groups – our gang has kept a low profile. It works with a wide range of nationalities, particularly from Iraq and Africa, and seems to rely for business on reputation and word of mouth.

But that reputation has continued to be affected by news of more deaths in the Channel. We discovered at least seven more people – after the initial five on Sarah’s boat – had died in two separate incidents while attempting to cross with the gang.

On land, disturbing evidence of the gang’s violence has also emerged.

Earlier this year, two sources told us the shadowy figure, al-Millah, was running the gang’s operations in the forest near Dunkirk. Independently, our sources both described a scene, one winter’s day, when he ordered his small hands to stand in a line, before tying one of them to a tree and beating him severely. It seems the boss suspected the man of stealing money.

Al-Millah is “the leader” a young Somali woman told us, separately, by text. “No [migrants] meet him. They are all family… they are also theifs [sic].”

We had met the woman, who gave her name as Luna, at a food distribution point run by local charities outside Dunkirk. She had paid the gang for a crossing, she said, but had waited for two months in the forest camp and been disturbed by the abuse she had encountered.

In her texts, she described how she feared one of al-Millah’s henchmen, whom she called “Abdulah”.

“He put a gun in [sic] my head one night. He is a very dangerous guy he slap me so many times,” she wrote – before sharing a brief video she had secretly filmed of him.

Based on that video, and on other details, we believe this is the same Abdullah our undercover reporter would go on to meet in the forests around Dunkirk.

A few days later, on what she said was her 13th attempt, Luna crossed to the UK with a different gang. She has since broken off contact with us.

It was at this point that we stepped up our investigation – trying to engage more directly with the gang and penetrate its operations.

While its leaders had repeatedly changed phone numbers, we managed to confirm that one mobile number belonging to al-Millah remained in use.

We later learned the phone had been handed over to Abdullah, who had apparently taken over the running of operations in Dunkirk.

Two weeks ago, we made a strategic visit to Brussels – a common transit point for migrants heading to the coast of northern France. Having already used multiple fake identities to contact Abdullah on his mobile, we now rang him again.

We knew it was important to be careful when making such a call. The gang would often ask customers to send a pin to confirm their location, and then to make a video call to back that up and to ensure they were genuine.

Standing on a street near Brussels’ Gare Du Midi, our Arab-speaking colleague, posing as a migrant called “Abu Ahmed”, came straight to the point.

“Hello. Brother, I’m travelling alone. I want to leave quickly, please. Do you have a departure tomorrow, the day after, or this week?”

“Tomorrow, God willing,” Abdullah replied.

“I prefer to pay in the UK if possible. My money is in a safe place there.”

This was not an unusual or suspicious request for us to make. Although some people carry cash with them, many others arrange to pay the smugglers through bank transfers or via intermediaries in a range of countries including Turkey, Germany, Belgium and the UK. The money sometimes goes directly to the gang, or it can be held “in trust” to be handed over only after a successful crossing.

We wanted to expose the gang’s links in the UK, having already tracked one member to Wakefield.

“OK. The price is €1,400,” said Abdullah – over £1,200. He seemed in a rush.

A few hours later in a text, he sent us a UK mobile phone number and indicated his own name “Abdullah” should be used as a payment reference, along with the single word “Birmingham”.

Leaving our colleague Abu Ahmed to make his own way to the French coast, we rushed to Birmingham to arrange payment. Handing money over to criminals is not something we do lightly – but in this instance we decided there was a public interest in doing so as it was the only way we could further expose the gang and its wider network.

A few hours later, having arranged for a separate BBC colleague, who also speaks Arabic, to pose as one of Abu Ahmed’s relatives in the UK and to hand over an envelope containing the cash, we staked out a meeting place in the centre of Birmingham’s New Street. Abdullah had given us a UK phone number for his contact, and we arranged to meet the man beside a giant metal sculpture of a bull.

Our colleague stood, silently, as the crowds flowed around him. We sat on benches nearby, scanning each face, waiting to see if someone would show up, or if the gang had become suspicious of our plan.

Ten minutes later, and on time, someone showed up.

“Greetings, brother.”

“It’s all here,” said our colleague, holding up the money to show to a bearded man with a glass eye. The man said his name was Bahman, and that he had been sent by his uncle.

Bahman appeared relaxed and unsuspecting as the two men briefly chatted in the middle of the busy concourse, as we secretly filmed their encounter.

“Cash is a problem. I swear, it’s a problem,” said Bahman, implying that he was not simply a “runner” sent to collect the cash, but someone with at least a passing knowledge of the broader operation. He did not explain why cash was a “problem” but took the money – an agreed payment of £900, about three-quarters of the total smugglers’ bill – and left.

Small boat passengers can deposit money for their crossing in holding accounts in the UK and elsewhere using “hawala” brokers. It is a global honour system, widely used in the Middle East, in particular, that enables the transfer of money via mutually trusted third parties.

But there is a fee payable to businesses offering such a service. The fact that Bahman did not ask for any extra money strongly suggested he was not simply an agent or middleman, but directly linked to our gang in France.

We then travelled back to Dunkirk, where our colleague Abu Ahmed was finally in a credible position to make direct contact with Abdullah in the forest.

Abdullah told us he had received confirmation from Birmingham that most of the money for a crossing had been handed over. We had deliberately left a sum unpaid to give our colleague a good reason to meet Abdullah in his camp, rather than joining the group later as it headed south along the coast to attempt a crossing.

With two undercover security guards watching his back from a distance, Abu Ahmed walked towards the forest, following the directions that Abdullah handed out, one texted detail at a time, until he was told to leave the road and clamber down a steep bank. There, he handed over another €400 (£348) to Abdullah, as agreed, before making his excuses, explaining he was staying with other friends in Calais who were also seeking to cross to England.

Two days later, our undercover reporter received confirmation from Abdullah that an attempted crossing would be made early the next morning.

“We are waiting for you near the main station in Boulogne,” Abdullah said in one of several brief voice messages.

The weather forecast in the Channel was ideal. Hardly a breath of wind. As we had often observed before, French police were already positioned outside the bus and train stations in Dunkirk, Calais and Boulogne – the main gathering points for migrants moving to the beaches. But they made no attempt to stop anyone boarding.

Instead, their aim appeared to be to gather information about numbers of people and locations, to help work out where they might later have the best chance of intercepting and destroying the inflatable boats the gangs would, inevitably, head towards.

Slashing the inflatable boats with knives before they reach the sea has become the police’s main method to prevent launches. As a result, the gangs have begun to change tactics.

Roughly half of all the small boats crossing the Channel are now so-called “taxi-boats” – a police source told us – launched with few or no passengers and in secret. The craft then cruise along the coastline to pick up people waiting in the shallows.

“Forty-three tickets,” said one of the small hands, addressing a bus driver, as he and a crowd of mostly African men and women clustered at the door, alongside our undercover colleague. It was a familiar scene, with different smuggling gangs all arranging for their customers to gather and to travel along the French coastline on public transport towards different launch spots.

Our colleague, Abu Ahmed, initially travelled with the migrants, but – for his own safety – we had agreed he would slip away from the group before nightfall, and before they got close to the beaches.

From a distance, we watched Abdullah walk across a street in Boulogne, having accompanied some of his passengers there from Dunkirk and Calais. He wore black and carried a large backpack. More people arrived, and sat or lay near him, behind some bushes at a bus stop. They waited for several hours, until early evening, before getting on a local bus heading south towards Ecault beach, an area we knew was a favourite launch spot for the gang.

By seven that evening, with our cameras in plain sight, we were openly following Abdullah and perhaps 40 other people, as they walked down a sandy path through the woods and towards the long straight expanse of Ecault beach. Many in the group hid their faces from us but made no move to discourage us from filming, as they moved, suddenly, away from the path and then sat down in a wooded area.

Only one person in the group agreed to talk to us. It was Abdullah himself.

In quiet, halting English, he claims he was an Iranian migrant called Ahmed, and that this was his second, or possibly third, attempt to cross.

Perhaps Abdullah thought that by telling journalists this story, he was building a useful public alias that he might use later – like others in the gang have done – if he ever sought to claim asylum in the UK.

Abruptly, the sound of police radios in the distance brought all conversation to an end. The group of migrants – including many Somalis, some Sudanese, and possibly some Iranian families – sat in total silence for perhaps an hour.

Eventually two French gendarmes spotted them through the undergrowth and walked, slowly, forwards. The younger officer held a canister of pepper spray in his right hand, and it seemed as if all eyes in the group were fixed on it.

“Women?” asked the older office in English.

“Babies?” he continued and walked around the group counting heads. We had heard the police tend to intervene more often when there are babies involved. The officers also checked our team’s press cards as we sat nearby.

“Fifteen women. Forty people in all,” the officer concluded, and then, affably enough, he offered a parting, “good luck”.

A few hours later, as darkness fell, one sombre-looking family left. Their child, a boy of perhaps 10 years old, was coughing heavily. A single policeman remained, leaning on a nearby tree and occasionally shining a torch towards the rest of the group, until about 23:00, when he left.

The tension quickly melted away. Grins flashed in the darkness. For all the weariness and the risk, the younger men in the group seemed buoyed by a collective sense of adventure. By 02:00, the last muttered conversations faded away. It was now a cold, silent night, broken only by snores, the occasional yelp of someone dreaming, and the hoot of a single owl.

At about 06:30 the following morning, word spread through the group. The police had found whatever boat the gang had prepared for them overnight – we had seen Abdullah disappear into the darkness for at least an hour at one point – and destroyed it.

Quietly, people stood up, gathered their lifejackets and blankets and, following Abdullah and his team, began to walk back up the path towards the closest bus stop to head back to their camps and wait for another chance to cross.

Meanwhile, we had another journey to make, and a confrontation.

We had considered seeing if we could get a reimbursement from Abdullah by claiming that our colleague, Abu Ahmed, had changed his mind about the crossing. Instead, we decided it was more important to try to challenge the gang’s UK-based associates. And so, later that same day, our undercover reporter called Abdullah one more time.

Abu Ahmed said his two friends in Calais also wanted to cross, and that he had left Abdullah’s group on the bus because he preferred to travel with his friends. Could they pay in Birmingham too? Just like the last time?

The next day, we were back at New Street Station again. It was a near identical repeat of our earlier visit there, except this time, when a different unnamed man – also young, and bearded – arrived beside the bull sculpture to collect yet more cash for the smuggling gang, we broke cover and walked straight up to him, our cameras rolling.

“We’re from BBC News. We know you’re linked to a people smuggling gang…”

The man looked around, momentarily confused, his eyes darting. Then he turned and broke into a frantic sprint, heading to the station exit and across the street beyond before vanishing into the city.

A few days later, we called Abdullah and by phone and asked him about his smuggling activities. At first, he denied any wrongdoing. Then offered us money. Then he said he needed to call his boss. Then he hung up.

Rescuers are looking for dozens of people who are feared to be trapped after a massive cloudburst triggered heavy rains and flash floods in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand.

Teams, including army and paramilitaries, have reached Dharali village in Uttarkashi district, which is believed to have borne the brunt of the floods.

Dramatic videos of the disaster show a giant wave of water gushing through the area, crumpling buildings in its path. A tourist spot, Dharali is populated with hotels, resorts and restaurants.

A cloudburst is an extreme, sudden downpour of rain over a small area in a short period of time, often leading to flash floods.

It took place at around 13:30 India time (08:00 GMT) when a large amount of water came down, swelling the Kheerganga river and sending tonnes of muddy waters gushing downwards on the hilly terrain, covering roads, buildings and shops in Dharali.

Eyewitnesses from a nearby village who shot the dramatic footage of the muddy water coursing through the streets could be heard shrieking, blowing whistles and shouting “run, run”, but said the sudden surge did not give people the chance to get away.

They said they believed many people could be trapped under the debris.

The ancient Kalpkedar temple is also under the slush and is believed to have been damaged, they added.

The sludge from Kheerganga has blocked a part of the region’s main river Bhagirathi [which becomes India’s holiest river Ganges once it travels downstream] and created an artificial lake, submerging vast tracts of land, including a government helipad.

Concern is growing that if this water is not drained out quickly, it can pose a serious threat to towns and villages downstream.

Army personnel who have now arrived at the location are making announcements asking people to stay away from the water.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has offered his “condolences to the people affected by the tragedy” in a post on social media site X.

“I pray for the well-being of all the victims… Relief and rescue teams are engaged in every possible effort. No stone is being left unturned in providing assistance to the people,” he wrote.

Earlier, Prashant Arya, the senior-most official of Uttarkashi, said communication had been erratic because of poor connectivity in the area.

“As it’s a populated area with lots of restaurants and hotels, we’ve dispatched rescue teams to the site,” he added.

Dharali is located 2km (1.24 miles) from Harsil, which is a popular tourist destination and also has a huge Indian army base. A camp of the paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) is also located near the area.

Personnel from the two forces have reached the site of the disaster and officials said they were assessing the situation.

But rescue is expected to be slow because the area is continuing to receive heavy rains.

Some of the injured are receiving treatment at the army camp in Harsil, reports say.

Former US President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary are among a range of high-profile people to be sent subpoenas from a congressional committee investigating deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Republican James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, issued the subpoenas on Tuesday to the Clintons, as well as eight other individuals.

The committee is seeking information about Epstein’s history, after President Donald Trump’s administration decided against releasing more federal files on the late financier.

That decision sparked outrage among Trump’s supporters and some Democrats, as many believe the files include a “client list” of famous men affiliated with Epstein.

As the rift between Trump and his conservative base on Epstein continues to widen, the committee, made up of both Democrats and Republicans, recently voted to issue the subpoenas.

They cast a wide net across justice department leadership during the George W Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden administrations, and the committee also subpoenaed the department itself for records related to Epstein.

Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s associate who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, had indicated she was willing to testify before the powerful investigatory committee, with strict legal protections. Her scheduled 11 August deposition, though, has been postponed indefinitely.

The Epstein legal saga has spanned two decades, with Florida police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation first scrutinising the well-connected man for allegations of sexual abuse in the early 2000s.

Comer wrote in letters to each person that the committee must “conduct oversight of the federal government’s enforcement of sex trafficking laws generally and specifically its handling of the investigation and prosecution of Mr Epstein” and Maxwell.

He also indicated that depositions will start this month and run through the fall, with Bill Clinton scheduled for 14 October.

Former attorneys general Merrick Garland, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder and Alberto Gonzales, were summoned, along with Jeff Sessions and William Barr, who both led the justice department during Trump’s first term. Former FBI directors James Comey and Robert Mueller were also sent subpoenas.

The Clinton administration predates the Epstein investigation, but the couple’s critics have long questioned their relationship with Epstein.

A spokesperson has acknowledged that Bill Clinton took four trips with staff on Epstein’s private plane in 2002 and 2003, and met with Epstein in New York in 2002. Clinton also visited Epstein’s New York apartment around that time.

The letters to each Clinton cites these incidents, as well as other alleged encounters and connections, as reasons for summoning them.

In 2019, a spokesman said the former president “knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York.”

The Clinton Foundation and Bill Clinton’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Department of Justice had no comment.

The committee is seeking all of the department’s documents and communications on Epstein and Maxwell “relating or referring to human trafficking, exploitation of minors, sexual abuse, or related activity”, as well as files from the US criminal cases against Maxwell and Epstein, documents from a 2007 agreement to not prosecute Epstein and federal investigations into the former financier.

It is not immediately clear if individuals named by Comer will appear before the committee and, if they do, whether they will testify publicly.

Over the last 200 years, only four other former Presidents have received subpoenas from congressional committees, and only two provided testimony.

Notably, the committee investigating the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot voted during a televised hearing to subpoena Trump, who then sued to stop it. The subpoena was dropped when the committee disbanded.

Federal prosecutors charged Epstein with sex trafficking of minors and other crimes in 2019, during the first Trump administration.

He died by suicide in jail that August, and almost immediately afterward many began questioning the circumstances of his death.

This summer, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced her department, after conducting a review, had found no evidence of the long-rumoured “client list”. She also said evidence supported that Epstein died by suicide and the government would not release any more files.

The announcements sparked outrage among some supporters of Trump, who promised in his campaign to release the records.

The fight among House Republicans over the case grew so contentious that House Speaker Mike Johnson sent lawmakers home early in July to block a vote over the Epstein files’ release.

As demands grew for the Trump administration to release more Epstein records, the justice department recently met with Maxwell, and it is currently seeking to release grand jury transcripts from her case. On Tuesday, Maxwell’s lawyer said she opposed the release of the transcripts.

The BBC has asked the White House for comment on the subpoenas.

The US Coast Guard has determined the implosion of OceanGate’s Titan submersible that killed all five people on board was “preventable”, citing the company’s “critically flawed” safety practices.

A damning 335-page report from Coast Guard investigators states that OceanGate, the company that owned and operated the Titan, failed to follow maintenance and inspection protocols for the deep-sea vessel.

“There is a need for stronger oversight and clear options for operators who are exploring new concepts outside of the existing regulatory framework,” Jason Neubauer, the chair of the Coast Guard Marine Board, said in a statement.

The Titan submersible disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean while descending to the wreckage of the Titanic on 18 June 2023.

OceanGate has extended its condolences to the families of the victims and stated that it “directed its resources fully toward cooperating with the Coast Guard’s inquiry”.

Here are five key takeaways from the two-year investigation.

The report condemns OceanGate’s safety practices as fundamentally inadequate. It says the primary causal factor for the implosion was the firm’s failure to follow “established engineering protocols” for safety and testing.

There were “glaring disparities between their written safety protocols and their actual practices”, the report states.

“This marine casualty and the loss of five lives was preventable,” said Jason Neubauer, the chairman of the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation that was charged with investigating the Titan disaster.

The company continued to use the Titan sub despite a series of previous incidents that compromised the craft without properly assessing its suitability, the investigation found.

The sub imploded 90 minutes into the dive after its carbon-fibre hull suffered a catastrophic loss of structural integrity, the investigation found.

The report says the crew died instantly, subjected to nearly 5,000 pounds per square inch of water pressure.

Carbon fibre has not been used for a deep diving sub before.

It is known to be unreliable under pressure, and its layers are known to come apart in a process called delamination.

The submersible did complete 13 dives to the Titanic in the two years preceding the tragedy. But the coastguard criticised the company’s continued use of the submersible without checking its hull, after a number of safety issues were picked up its monitoring.

Rob McCallum, from EYOS expeditions, a specialist in deep water operations, who advised Oceangate between 2009 and 2016, told the BBC that carbon fibre is an unpredictable material.

“When you listen to the sounds of that hull under stress, and the cracking and the popping, that’s the sign of damage in the hull, that means the hull is getting weaker,” Mr McCallum said.

“So you can’t expect to take a vehicle to the same depth every time knowing that it’s weaker than the dive before, and expect it not to fail at some stage, It is a mathematical certainty that it will fail,” he said. “The tragedy is, you don’t know when it’s going to fail.”

The report accuses OceanGate of intentionally avoiding regulatory scrutiny through intimidation and strategic manipulation.

In the years leading up to the incident, the company “leveraged intimidation tactics, allowances for scientific operations, and the company’s favorable reputation to evade regulatory scrutiny”, the report said.

“By strategically creating and exploiting regulatory confusion and oversight challenges, OceanGate was ultimately able to operate Titan completely outside of the established deep-sea protocols,” it added.

The report also blames Stockton Rush, OceanGate’s founder and the pilot of the Titan sub during its fatal voyage, for contributing to the disaster.

Rush “exhibited negligence that contributed to the deaths of four individuals” (apart from his own), investigators said.

Had he survived, investigators said they would have recommended referring him to the US Department of Justice for potential “criminal offences”.

Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation Chair Jason Neubauer told the BBC that the structure of the organisation was “deeply flawed”.

“One of the biggest standouts that I think that any company could take away is, if your CEO, was also filling the role of safety officer, and lead engineer at the end, it’s just too many,” he said. “It’s a consolidation of power that leads to no checks and balances.”

To prevent similar disasters in future, the Marine Board issued 14 safety recommendations to the US Coast Guard and the wider submersible industry.

Key among them:

• US Coast Guard (USCG) pursue “proper regulatory oversight” of submersibles
• Revoking ORV (Oceanographic Research Vessel) designations for submersibles, requiring them to meet certification standards under new passenger vessel requirements
• Dedicated USCG resources “providing field support for vessels of novel design”

In a statement, Oceangate offered condolences to the families of those who died in the deadly disaster, and to all “those impacted by the tragedy”.

“After the tragedy occurred, the company permanently wound down operations and directed its resources fully towards cooperating with the Coast Guard’s inquiry through its completion,” it said.

Bangladesh will hold its first elections since protests toppled its former prime minister next February, the country’s interim leader said on the anniversary of her overthrow.

Muhammad Yunus made the announcement at the end of a day of celebrations for what some have called the country’s “second liberation”.

Sheikh Hasina fled to India on 5 August last year, following weeks of student-led protests, bringing an end to 15 years of increasingly authoritarian rule.

Nobel laureate Yunus was brought in to head a caretaker government days later, promising reforms which some say he has struggled to deliver amid continuing political turmoil and a struggle to maintain law and order.

Among the issues dividing the country’s politicians has been the date of the election. Yunus initially suggested June 2026 as a potential date.

However, representatives of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), as well as the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party and the student-led National Citizen Party (NCP), all joined Yunus on stage in the capital Dhaka on Tuesday.

Later, Yunus said he would write to the Election Commission to request the vote be held “before Ramadan in February 2026”.

“For many years, none of us have been able to vote,” the 85-year-old said in a televised broadcast. “This time, we will all vote. No one will be left out. Let us all be able to say, ‘I cast my vote to set the country on the path to building a new Bangladesh’.”

Tuesday also saw Yunus reiterate promises on widespread reform, reading out the “July Declaration”, which seeks to recognise the student-led protests which toppled Hasina in the constitution.

Hasina’s time in office was marked by widespread allegations of human rights violations and the murder and jailing of political rivals. Members of the Awami League government ruthlessly cracked down on dissent. The BBC has spoken to numerous people who were “disappeared” into a network of secret jails across the country.

But it was the student-led protest against a civil service jobs quota system which escalated into calls for the government to stand aside in July and August 2024 that eventually prompted Hasina to flee.

The government collapsed, and the Awami League has since been banned. Analysts note hundreds of Awami League supporters have been detained without trial over the last 12 months.

As part of the declaration read on Tuesday, those who were killed in the uprising will be recognised as “national heroes”, Yunus said.

The document – which also promises a democratic state that would uphold the rule of law and moral values, as well as a justice process for those who engaged in violence during Hasina’s rule – is seen by advocates as the basis of institutional reform, although critics say it is largely symbolic and without power.

Meanwhile, in an open letter to Bangladesh’s citizens on Monday, Hasina argued she had not actually stood aside, describing the events of 2024 as a “coup”.

“Despite claims to the contrary, I never resigned from my duties as your prime minister,” she wrote.

“I believe in you. I believe in Bangladesh. And I believe that our best days are yet to come.”

Hasina is currently on trial in absentia in Bangladesh, having refused to return to face charges which amount to crimes against humanity, related to the deadly crackdown on protesters which left hundreds dead. She denies the charges.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to propose fully reoccupying the Gaza Strip when he meets his security cabinet, Israeli media say.

“The die has been cast. We’re going for the full conquest of the Gaza Strip – and defeating Hamas,” local journalists quote a senior official as saying.

Responding to reports that the army chief and other military leaders oppose the plan, the unnamed official said: “If that doesn’t work for the chief of staff, he should resign.”

The families of hostages fear such plans could endanger their loved ones, with 20 out of 50 believed to be alive in Gaza, while polls suggest three in four Israelis instead favour a ceasefire deal to return them.

Many of Israel’s close allies would also condemn such a move as they push for an end to the war and action to alleviate a humanitarian crisis.

Within Israel, hundreds of retired Israeli security officials, including former heads of intelligence agencies, issued a joint letter to US President Donald Trump on Monday, calling for him to pressure Netanyahu to end the war.

One of the signatories, ex-domestic intelligence agency chief Ami Ayalon, told the BBC that further military action would be futile.

“From the military point of view, [Hamas] is totally destroyed. On the other hand, as an ideology it is getting more and more power among the Palestinian people, within the Arab street around us, and also in the world of Islam.

“So the only way to defeat Hamas’s ideology is to present a better future.”

The latest developments come after indirect talks with Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage deal broke down and Palestinian armed groups released three videos of two Israeli hostages looking weak and emaciated.

The footage of Rom Blaslavski and Evyatar David, both kidnapped from the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023, has shocked and appalled Israelis. David is shown digging what he says is his own grave in an underground tunnel.

There has been some speculation that the latest media announcements are a pressure tactic to try to force Hamas into a new deal.

Israel’s military says it already has operational control of 75% of Gaza. But under the proposed plan it would occupy the entire territory – moving into areas where more than two million Palestinians are now concentrated.

It is unclear what that would mean for civilians and for the operations of the UN and other aid groups. About 90% of Gaza’s 2.1 million people have been displaced, some repeatedly, and are living in overcrowded and dire conditions. Humanitarian groups and UN officials say many are starving, accusing Israel of impeding the distribution of crucial aid.

Israel meanwhile says it will allow local businesspeople in Gaza to restart entry of some goods as part of efforts to improve conditions there. Approved items include baby food, fruit and vegetables and hygiene products. Private imports were previously stopped because of claims that Hamas was benefitting.

The Israeli military has previously held back from taking over some areas of Gaza, including central parts, because of an assumption that there are living hostages held there. Last year, six Israeli hostages were executed by their captors after ground forces moved in.

There has not been a formal response but officials from the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the occupied West Bank, denounced the Israeli proposal, calling on the international community to intervene to prevent any new military occupation.

Palestinians point out that far-right Israeli ministers have been openly advocating for the full occupation and annexation of Gaza and ultimately want to build new Jewish settlements there.

In 2005, Israel dismantled settlements in the Gaza Strip and withdrew its forces from there.

But alongside Egypt, it maintained a tight control of access to the territory.

The new occupation idea comes amid growing international moves to revive the two-state solution – the long-time international formula to resolve the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict. It envisages an independent Palestinian state being created alongside Israel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Last week, the UK and Canada joined France in announcing conditional plans for recognising a Palestinian state.

The Israeli PM is now expected to meet with key ministers and military leaders to decide next steps in Gaza. Israeli army radio says they are due to discuss initial army plans to surround the central refugee camps and carry out air strikes and ground raids.

Netanyahu said he would convene a full security cabinet meeting this week.

Israeli media commentators have voiced scepticism and drawn attention to the practical military, political and diplomatic challenges. Writing in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Nahum Barnea says: “Netanyahu has never taken a gamble on this scale before.”

He notes that the Israeli PM has repeated his vow to achieve all of his war goals.

“But after 22 months of bloody fighting, it is hard to take those kinds of promises seriously. It seems that Netanyahu has just one objective in the war in Gaza, to prolong the war.”

Israel launched its military offensive in Gaza in response to Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken to Gaza as hostages.

At least 61,020 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since then, the Hamas-run health ministry says.