Around 190 migrants trying to cross the English Channel were rescued in several operations on Saturday, French maritime officials said.
At dawn, a French naval patrol boat rescued “around 60 people” off the coast of Zuydcoote (north), the English and North Sea Maritime Province said in a statement.
It later rescued another 50 migrants on the coast of Hemmes-de-Marc (north). People were taken to the port of Calais.
This Saturday, in front of Lefrincoq (north), French gendarmes rescued all 47 people. A further 29 people were rescued in the middle of the night and taken back to Boulogne-sur-Mer, officials said.
“This means that almost 190 people have been rescued within 24 hours,” they recounted.
Illegal crossings in small boats are on the rise in the English Channel. The route, which separates England from mainland Europe, is one of the world’s busiest waterways.
The French Interior Ministry recently calculated that 20,000 people tried to cross the canal between January 1 and June 13, a 68% increase over the same period in 2021.
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© Agence France-Presse
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