Pas-de-Calais: 41 migrants rescued in the Channel during two operations

Forty-one migrants, including six children and two people with disabilities, were rescued on Friday July 31 during two separate operations as they tried to cross the Channel on board makeshift boats, the prefecture announced. maritime. Shortly before 5 a.m., the Samu du Pas-de-Calais received a " call from migrants asking for assistance in the Hardelot sector " (about 50 km south of Calais), according to a press release from the Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea.

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Sent there, a tug of the French Navy spotted 30 migrants, including six children and two people with physical disabilities, and took them on board shortly before 8:00 a.m.

Brought back to the port of Calais at 9:30 am, they were taken care of by the emergency services and the border police. In addition, eleven migrants " in difficulty " were spotted off Wissant and recovered at 6:47 am by a patroller of the coast guard of the French customs, then brought back to the port of Boulogne-sur-mer. All are " safe and sound " according to the maritime prefecture.

Since January 1, at least 665 migrants have been intercepted by French authorities after trying to cross the Channel using makeshift boats or swimming, according to an AFP count.