(Lille) Nearly 190 migrants trying to cross the Channel to reach the United Kingdom aboard makeshift boats were rescued at sea on Saturday, during several operations, and brought back to France, said the maritime prefecture.
Posted at 5:37 p.m.
During the night from Friday to Saturday, a patrol boat from the French Navy first rescued “sixty people” off Zuydcoote (North), indicates the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea (Premar ) in a press release.
Engaged in a second operation in the morning, he recovered fifty other migrants in difficulty off Hemmes-de-Marcq (Pas-de-Calais). The castaways were all dropped off at the port of Calais.
Also called upon on Saturday morning, the French gendarmes took charge of 47 people, off Leffrinckoucke (North), deposited at the port of Dunkirk. Twenty-nine other migrants were rescued in the middle of the day and brought back to Boulogne-sur-Mer, continues the Premar.
“Nearly 190 people were rescued in less than 24 hours,” she insists.
Since the authorities bunkered the Channel Tunnel and the port of Calais, the starting point on the French side, more and more candidates for exile are trying their luck crossing the busiest sea route in the world. . Risking their lives.
The French Ministry of the Interior recently estimated at 20,000 the number of candidates for exile who attempted to cross between 1er January and June 13 (+68% compared to the same period in 2021).