The maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea indicated this Wednesday, December 4, 2024 that 85 migrants were rescued at sea, off the coast of the Strait of Pas-de-Calais, while they were trying to reach the England.
80 passengers were first rescued on board a boat in difficulty
then, on another boat, five additional people were rescued after requesting assistance from French rescuers.
READ ALSO: Crossing the Channel: overloaded canoes are causing more and more deaths among migrants
An 80-passenger boat rescued
In a press release, the maritime prefecture indicates that numerous departures of migrant boats
were reported this Wednesday at the Gris-Nez regional operational surveillance and rescue center (CROSS) off the coast of Pas-de-Calais
.
The boat carrying 80 people found itself in difficulty when crossing a sandbank
in the Wissant Bay sector, justifying the dispatch of the intervention, assistance and rescue tug to the site Bee Normandy.
After their request for assistance, the 80 passengers were picked up on board theBee Normandy.
Five people rescued on board a second boat
The prefecture adds that the ship chartered by the French Navy also provided assistance to another boat, in the Wimereux sector, on board of which five people requested assistance from French rescuers. Other migrants remained on board, monitored by the customs patrol officer. Jacques Oudart Fourmentin, until the boat enters the British zone of responsibility.
Taking into account the risks of falling into the sea or of injuries incurred by people in the event of forced intervention by French emergency resources, the choice [a été] letting other people on the boats continue their journey
details the maritime prefecture.
The deadliest year in the Channel since 2018
All those rescued were brought back to the dock at Boulogne-sur-Mer, where they were taken care of by land rescue and border police, the maritime prefecture said.
More than 70 migrants have lost their lives this year during attempts to cross the Channel, according to the Pas-de-Calais prefecture.
This provisional assessment makes 2024 the deadliest year in this area since the start in 2018 of clandestine crossings of the Strait of Pas-de-Calais on inflatable boats nicknamed small boats
hardly suitable for the high seas and often overloaded.
During the night from Saturday to Sunday, 151 migrants had already been rescued in the Channel, including four who had fallen into the water.
A vast raid also took place on Wednesday in Germany against a network of smugglers. According to the French Ministry of the Interior, the operation targeted a Syrian and Iraqi-Kurdish network
suspected of having organized this year the transport of at least 300 boats
intended for crossings of the Channel.
READ ALSO: Migrant shipwrecks in the Channel: three graphs to understand these tragedies over the past ten years
