More than 80 migrants, including at least four children, were rescued Monday, September 7 during five separate operations as they tried to cross the Channel on board makeshift boats, the maritime prefecture said in the evening.
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Forty-five of them were on board the same inflatable boat, reported "
in difficulty
" off Dunkirk (North) around 9:00 am, then towed to the port by a French customs speedboat, specifies in a press release the prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea.
Five women and four children
A coast guard patroller also rescued 16 migrants, including five women and four children, after
their boat
broke down
off Dunkirk.
Fifteen other people, spotted at 6:07 am off the coast of Calais in a boat which "was
taking water
", were rescued by a coastal speedboat from the maritime gendarmerie and brought back to the port of Calais.
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Informed by a merchant ship and a ferry, the authorities finally intercepted five people in the anchorage area of the Dyck, north of Calais, and two other migrants "
in a situation of hypothermia
" in an unspecified area, finally brought back to port of Calais.
All "
safe and sound
", they were handed over to the border police.
Since January 1, at least 1,169 migrants have been intercepted by French authorities after trying to cross the Channel using makeshift boats or swimming, according to a count made by AFP.