Paris-Sana
The French authorities announced that they had rescued, during the past hours, 272 migrants who had sailed on rickety boats from the country's northern coast off the Pas-de-Calais Strait in the English Channel in an attempt to reach England.
The Directorate of Security in the English Channel and the North Sea said in a statement carried by the French press agency that the regional center for monitoring and rescue operations had received reports of several boats facing difficulties off the Pas de Calais strait, noting that a boat belonging to the Maritime Gendarmerie provided 48 people during three rescue operations, while seven rescue operations were carried out. Others with several boats and a merchant ship.
According to the statement, all 272 rescued migrants were taken to the ports of Calais, Dunkirk and Boulogne-sur-Mer and were taken over by border police and firefighters.
Since the end of 2018, the English Channel crossings to the UK have increased despite repeated warnings from the authorities stressing the dangers of this type of migration due to heavy traffic, strong currents and low water temperature.
According to the French authorities, about 15,400 migrants tried to cross the Channel in the first eight months of this year, 3,500 of whom were experiencing difficulties when they were rescued and returned to the French coast.
This outcome represents a significant increase in the number of illegal immigrants from France to Britain compared to previous years, as the entire year 2020 recorded the transit or attempt to cross about 9,500 immigrants, compared to 2,300 immigrants in 2019 and 600 in 2018.
