The 15 migrants were in a damaged boat. These are all men who declare that they are from Iraq, Kuwait, Egypt and Afghanistan. They left Dunkirk for the UK on Saturday morning.
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Fifteen migrants trying to reach Britain were rescued off the coast of Belgium as their inflatable boat started to sink, Belgian authorities said on Sunday. The canoe, with a capacity of seven places, had left Dunkirk (North) Friday evening and one of the passengers
had successfully launched a distress call several hours later using a cell phone.
The Belgian coastguards rescued the shipwrecked 11 km offshore on the side of De Panne and brought them back to the port of Ostend. The passengers – all male – are of Egyptian, Afghan, Iraqi and Kuwaiti nationalities, according to a statement from the prosecutor’s office.
“Human traffickers are increasingly putting migrants on small inflatable boats and directing them to the North Sea, generally from the French coast”, according to Frank Demeester, spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office. Their objective is to get as close as possible to the British coast to be rescued by the English coast guard and land in Great Britain.
Rescue operation ended successfully.
Everyone on board safely. https://t.co/jnfOF2mCdl– Agency for Maritime Services and Coast (@agentschapMDK) June 27, 2020
No arrests were made in the case, the same source said.
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