Ninety-one migrants who were trying to get to England on small boats, like more than 15,000 of them since the start of the year, were rescued and brought back to the French coast on Wednesday (September 15th), announced the maritime prefecture.
To read alsoDouglas Murray: "Our policies must think about the consequences in term of immigration"
On a first boat, in difficulty off Berck, in Pas-de-Calais, were 36 migrants, who were rescued by a rescue tug, then dropped off at Boulogne-sur-Mer. At the same time, the canoe of the National Society for Rescue at Sea (SNSM) recovered 22 migrants in a bad position off Dunkirk (North), before depositing them in Calais. Another Calais SNSM dinghy and a coastal maritime surveillance cruiser then recovered 14 and 19 shipwrecked people respectively, still off Dunkirk. All were taken care of by the border police.
Since the end of 2018, illegal crossings of the Channel by migrants seeking to reach the south coast of England have increased, despite repeated warnings from the authorities who highlight the danger linked to very dense traffic and strong currents. They reached records this summer, bringing the number of migrants involved between January 1 and August 31 to around 15,400. Since 2018, these sea crossings have cost the lives of 11 people and left three missing, according to the prefect of the Channel and the North Sea.
