The agents rescued these migrants who fell into the water in the Loon-Plage canal near Grande-Synthe (Hauts-de-France) while a zodiac was trying to cross a lock.
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On Tuesday, November 16, three agents from the Lille Anti-Crime Brigade (BAC) rescued seven migrants in the Loon-Plage canal near Grande-Synthe (Hauts-de-France), while the migrant camp there was installed had just been dismantled, reports France Bleu Nord on Wednesday 17 November.
It was around 7 a.m. when police saw two boats, one with around 60 to 70 migrants on board, the other with around 20 refugees, patrolling the canal. The two zodiacs were trying to cross the lock but the second had a problem and started to sink. Seven people jumped into the water, including a woman and two children without life jackets.
“We are monitoring the area from the dunes. Our mission is to prevent migrants from going to sea”, explained Jérémy, one of the police officers who rescued the castaways. “We first picked up the young woman and the two teenagers, whom we brought back to the banks and then we picked up the four other refugees who had life jackets”, he added.
When they were brought back to the banks, most of the migrants fled, the policeman said: “The problem that we encounter is that they know that we are a police officer, they get scared and run away. We cannot hold them either. They are in an irregular situation in the territory, necessarily, they are afraid of being questioned “.
The police ran into them again a little later as they tried to warm up around a makeshift fire in the undergrowth. One of the young people was hypothermic, the police gave him first aid before calling the fire department, but the castaways refused to be taken care of by the hospital.