France: more than a hundred migrants rescued in one day in the Channel
Migrants disembark from a Calais SNSM rescue boat on April 17, 2020 after being rescued along the French coast as they attempted to cross the Channel to reach the United Kingdom.
BERNARD BARRON / AFP
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The French authorities on Friday rescued 111 migrants, including 29 children, who were trying to cross the Channel and reach the British coast on six makeshift boats, announced the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea.
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More than a hundred migrants trying to cross the Channel to reach the United Kingdom were rescued in a single day, Friday July 2.
The Gris-Nez regional operational surveillance and rescue center was first contacted by migrants reporting difficulties off the coast of Merlimont, in Pas-de-Calais.
The 55 castaways on board, including 14 women and 26 children, were rescued, the maritime prefecture said in a statement.
Three other boats off Sangatte, in Pas-de-Calais, and Ruytingen, in the North, with a total of 17 migrants on board, were then rescued.
Their occupants were brought back to the port of Dunkirk and taken care of by firefighters and border police.
► See also: Crossing the Channel: 84 migrants rescued off the French coast
Five other castaways were rescued by the star of the National Society for Rescue at Sea of Calais and brought back safe and sound to Calais, the statement continued.
Finally, another migrant boat was reported in difficulty off Malo-les-Bains, in the North.
Its 34 occupants, including a pregnant woman and three children, were rescued and safely dropped off at the port of Calais.
More and more crossing attempts
Since the end of 2018, these illegal crossings of the Channel by migrants seeking to reach the United Kingdom have increased despite repeated warnings from the authorities underlining the danger linked to the density of traffic, strong currents and the low temperature of the sea. 'water.
In 2020, more than 9,500 crossings or attempted crossings of this type were recorded, four times more than in 2019, according to a report from the maritime prefecture.
Six people were killed there and three disappeared, after four deaths in 2019.
(
with
AFP)
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