A ship of the maritime gendarmerie.

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Jeff Gilbert / REX / SIPA

More than 80 migrants, including at least four children, were rescued Monday during five separate operations as they tried to cross the Channel in makeshift boats, the maritime prefecture said in the evening.

Forty-five of them were on board the same inflatable boat, reported "in difficulty" off Dunkirk (North) around 9am, then towed to the port by a French customs speedboat, specifies in a press release the prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea.

A coast guard patroller also rescued 16 migrants, including five women and four children, after their boat broke down off Dunkirk.

Fifteen other people, spotted at 6:07 am off the coast of Calais in a boat which "was taking water", were rescued by a coastal speedboat from the maritime gendarmerie and brought back to the port of Calais.

1,169 migrants arrested during their crossing in 2020

Informed by a merchant ship and a ferry, the authorities finally intercepted five people in the anchorage area of ​​the Dyck, north of Calais, and two other migrants "in a situation of hypothermia" in an unspecified area, finally brought back to port of Calais.

All "safe and sound", they were handed over to the border police.

Since January 1, at least 1,169 migrants have been intercepted by the French authorities after attempting to cross the Channel using makeshift boats or swimming, according to a count made by AFP.

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