Europe 1 with AFP // Photo credit: Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP 6:02 p.m., February 18, 2024

The maritime prefecture announced that nearly 140 migrants were rescued this Saturday off the coast of Pas-de-Calais by two ships chartered by the French state. Candidates for exile who tried to reach England in two clandestine boats. Five others were rescued after their vessel capsized. 

Nearly 140 candidates for exile trying to reach England in two clandestine boats were rescued during the day on Saturday off the coast of Pas-de-Calais by two ships chartered by the French state, the French state said on Sunday. maritime prefecture. Five others were rescued on Saturday after their ship capsized, added the Pas-de-Calais prefecture.

Shipwrecked people “taken care of by the emergency services on land”

According to the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea, the authorities first rescued Saturday mid-morning 57 migrants who had taken to the sea off Gravelines late Saturday night, after damage to their boat. . Rescued by the Ridens, a ship participating in the surveillance and rescue system set up by the State in the Strait of Pas-de-Calais, these castaways were “disembarkated and taken care of by the emergency services on land” at the port of Calais, indicates a press release from Premar.

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In the middle of the day, 75 people on board a boat requesting assistance were also rescued and recovered by the assistance and rescue tug (Rias) Abeille Normandie. “They were left at the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer in the presence of rescue teams,” the press release said. In addition, five people, including a four-month-old baby, were rescued after their boat capsized near Boulogne-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais), the Pas-de-Calais prefecture told AFP on Saturday. de-Calais, confirming information from Voix du Nord. “In hypothermia, they were taken to the nearest hospital” but their condition did not cause concern, said the prefecture.

According to the newspaper, these people all come from the same Kurdish family. Some 36,000 migrants attempted to reach England in 2023 by illegally crossing the Channel from the French coast, a figure down by more than 30% over one year, according to a report communicated at the beginning of February by the maritime prefecture, which counts 12 deaths over the past year.