Eighty migrants were rescued Friday, June 18 in the Channel as they tried to reach England on makeshift boats, announced the maritime prefecture.
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The first two boats carrying a total of 42 people were first taken care of off Boulogne-sur-Mer and Ambleteuse, after contacting the Gris-Nez regional operational surveillance and rescue center (CROSS), according to a communicated the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea. At the beginning of the afternoon, another boat in difficulty off Leffrinckoucke (North) was rescued and its 38 occupants brought back to the port of Calais around 2:45 p.m. All were taken care of safely by the SDIS and the Pas-de-Calais border police.
Since the end of 2018, these illegal crossings of the Channel by migrants seeking to reach the United Kingdom have increased despite repeated warnings from the authorities underlining the danger linked to the density of traffic, strong currents and the low temperature of the sea. 'water. In 2020, more than 9,500 crossings or attempted crossings of this type were recorded, i.e. four times more than in 2019, according to a report from the maritime prefecture. Six people were killed there and three disappeared, after four deaths in 2019.