Story by George Lithgow
French authorities rescued 96 migrants after an inflatable dinghy suffered engine failure in the English Channel on Monday morning, shortly after departing the French coast.
Emergency crews reported that roughly 30 individuals were left in the sea off Le Touquet beach, with several encountering severe difficulties in strong currents. Four people were winched to safety by a helicopter crew, while a lifeboat recovered six others, before the group was taken to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has pledged to “change tactics” to counter these smuggling networks.
News of this latest rescue mission comes just days after around 140 migrants attempting to cross the English Channel to the UK were picked up by a French maritime rescue operation in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The complex operation, which deployed a number of rescue boats, began on Friday morning when the monitoring station in Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer spotted a migrant boat heading towards Dieppe, a fishing port on the Normandy coast.
Two patrol boats were then used to track the vessel as it made its way up to the Pas de Calais, the French authorities said on Saturday.
Around 40 people were waiting in the water off the coast near Berck-sur-Mer for the “taxi-boat” late on Friday.
Lifeboats monitored them, fearing they would be stranded by the tide, the maritime prefecture explained. And when they did become stranded, they were taken to the beach to be met by the fire and rescue service.
The boat then resumed its northward journey at around 1am, and reached another beach where 82 people were wearing life-jackets waiting to board.
At this time, there were around 20 people already on board the small boat, the prefecture said. Those waiting for the dinghy decided against boarding due to bad weather, and were again met by French rescuers back on land.
Eventually, those on board abandoned their attempt to cross at around 3.30am.
