Nearly forty migrants, including three children in a state of hypothermia, were fished out on Wednesday April 5 in the Channel, announced the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea.
They were trying to reach the United Kingdom with small boats.
In two successive operations, the French authorities rescued and brought ashore 28 and 13 people respectively on Wednesday, detailed the maritime prefecture in a press release.
At the start of the morning, a patrol boat from the French Navy noted the presence of shipwrecked people in the water off Boulogne-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais).
He then sent his speedboat and picked up 28 people on board, all rescued from the water.
State of hypothermia
According to the maritime prefecture, four of these castaways, three children and an adult, were in a state of hypothermia.
Dropped off at the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, they were taken care of by the emergency services.
The Regional Operational Center for Surveillance and Rescue (CROSS) Gris-Nez sent a French Navy helicopter to fly over the area of the sinking "
to ensure that no one is adrift
".
A little later, the Cross dispatched a ship from the French Navy to rescue another boat in difficulty.
The ship picked up 13 people, before dropping them off in Calais.
Some 46,000 people crossed the English Channel in 2022 in small boats.
Five died and four disappeared in these dangerous crossings, according to the count of the maritime prefecture.
