Forty migrants, including children, rescued after a shipwreck in the English Channel

Forty migrants were rescued on Wednesday April 5 in the English Channel as they tried to reach England on small boats, announced the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea. Among these people, three children were in a state of hypothermia. Two successive operations took place, during which the French authorities brought ashore 28 and 13 people respectively.

At the start of the morning, a patrol boat from the French Navy noted the presence of shipwrecked people in the water off Boulogne-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais). He then sent his speedboat and picked up 28 people on board, all rescued from the water. According to the maritime prefecture, four of these castaways, three children and an adult, were in a state of hypothermia. Dropped off at the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, they were taken care of by the emergency services.

Some 46,000 crossings in 2022

The Regional Operational Center for Surveillance and Rescue (Cross) Gris-Nez sent a French Navy helicopter to fly over the sinking area “to ensure that no one is left behind”. A little later, the Cross dispatched a French Navy ship to rescue another boat in difficulty. The boat picked up 13 people, before dropping them off in Calais.

Some 46,000 people crossed the English Channel in 2022 in small boats. Five died and four disappeared in these dangerous crossings, according to the count of the maritime prefecture.