200 people were rescued at sea on Saturday in the Pas-de-Calais region

Two hundred shipwrecked people were rescued at sea in the Pas-de-Calais region, according to a report sent by the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea. “Eighteen attempts at boat departures were followed by the Cross Gris Nez” on Saturday, September 14, adds the prefecture.

On the night of Friday to Saturday, the Cross Gris-Nez rescue services were first alerted to a boat of migrants in difficulty off the coast of Portel (Pas-de-Calais). “All the resources proceeded to rescue the 55 people present on board the boat and brought them to the quayside”.

A few hours later, the rescue services will go to sea to pick up a boat with 61 people off the coast of La Becque d’Hardelot (Pas-de-Calais). Then they will pick up 48 people near the old Walde lighthouse (Pas-de-Calais), leaving 25 other people in this boat to continue their journey to the United Kingdom. “They will finally be recovered by the BF VOLUNTEER in the English zone”specifies the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea. Finally, for this Saturday, “Customs patrol officer Jacques Oudart Fourmentin (JOF) rescued 36 people at the end of the day”.

The prefect recalls the risks of this sector of the Channel which is very dangerous, with “more than 600 merchant ships pass through it every day” and where “the weather conditions are often difficult (120 days of wind greater than or equal to force 7 on an annual average, for example)”.