The Channel and North Sea maritime prefecture said on Saturday on its Twitter account that rescue operations took place overnight from Friday to Saturday.
Rescuers at sea carried out four rescue operations to help migrants trying to cross the Channel to reach the United Kingdom.
In detail: a patrol boat from the French Navy first recovered eleven migrants off the coast of Touquet (Pas-de-Calais). Then, off Boulogne-sur-Mer, sea rescuers rescued twenty-four castaways, including five children.
A baby on board
A surveillance boat from the maritime gendarmerie, on the same night, noticed a boat of migrants “in difficulty” off Sangatte and recovered the thirty migrants on board, including a woman and a baby.
Finally, a boat “in difficulty” was reported off Ambleteuse. The National Sea Rescue Society assisted 19 migrants, including two women and two children.
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The clandestine crossings of the Channel between France and England are still more and more numerous since the end of 2018 despite the risks.
In 2020, more than 9,500 crossings or attempted crossings of this type were recorded, four times more than in 2019.
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