Fifty-six migrants in difficulty were rescued in the Channel, while trying to reach England on a makeshift boat, the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea communicated on Tuesday May 10.
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Read alsoMigrants: the number of Channel crossings up sharply this year
Present on board the rescue tug during the intervention, AFP journalists identified a large number of nationalities on board, including African nationals, Eritreans, Ethiopians or Nigerians, as well as Afghans, Vietnamese or people Maghreb declaring to come from Egypt.
The inflatable boat, a black "
long boat
" with a broken down engine, had been reported Monday morning off Pas-de-Calais, then approached a coastal patrol boat from the maritime gendarmerie before the rescue.
A pregnant woman, accompanied by five children, were the first to be rescued.
Several other children were among the castaways.
All were recovered on board the tugboat, equipped with dry clothes - and for women and children, comforted with biscuits or soft toys - then landed at the port of Boulogne-sur-mer, and taken care of by firefighters du Pas-de-Calais and the border police.
Read alsoMigrants: in Dover, 220 boats seized since January
Illegal Channel crossings on the rise
Since the end of 2018, illegal crossings of the English Channel have multiplied despite repeated warnings from the authorities, who stress the danger linked to the density of traffic, strong currents and low water temperature.
According to the director of the Regional Operational Center for Surveillance and Rescue (Cross) Marc Bonnafous, the phenomenon has “
industrialized
”, with boats “
of more than 12 meters loaded with 30 to 50 people
”.
In 2021, 52,000 people attempted this crossing, five times more than in 2020, and 28,000 succeeded, according to British figures.
Already more than 7,000 migrants have reached British shores since January, three times more than in 2021 at the same time.
These perilous crossings also take lives: in 2021, 38 migrants died, including 27 in the same shipwreck on November 24, according to the maritime prefecture.
To discourage crossings, the British government recently enshrined in law a controversial reform of the right to asylum, which notably provides for the deportation to Rwanda of those arriving in the United Kingdom, while their asylum request is being studied.
The new law has been strongly criticized by international and refugee aid organizations.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees regretted a text which "
undermines established international laws and practices for the protection of refugees
".
