60 people rescued off the coast of Calais

The operational surveillance and rescue center rescued 60 migrants in difficulty at the entrance to the Calais channel.

60 people were rescued off the coast of Calais (Pas-de-Calais) this Thursday, November 7 while they were trying to cross the Channel, indicates the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea in a press release.

It was a passenger ship which reported to the regional operational surveillance and rescue center the presence of a migrant boat at the entrance to the Calais channel this Thursday morning.

60 people brought back to the dock

When the rescue vessel arrived on site, the people on board the boat reported being in difficulty. The 60 migrants were therefore rescued by the ship and brought back to the dock in Calais where they were taken care of by the emergency services and the border police.

Between November 1 and 5, 874 migrants crossed the Channel on small boats to reach the English coast, according to a count from the British Home Office.

On Wednesday November 6, a lifeless body was discovered on the beach of Calais and two others were recovered at sea. The day before, two other bodies had already been discovered in the English Channel.

60 candidates for exile have died trying to cross the Channel since the start of the year. This already makes 2024 the costliest year in human lives since the appearance of the phenomenon of Channel crossings on small boats in 2018.