A total of 224 migrants attempting to reach England in makeshift boats were rescued at sea and taken back to the French coast over the weekend in several separate operations, the French maritime authorities announced on Sunday.
On Saturday morning, seven migrants in difficulty were rescued off the coast of the northwestern city of Dunkirk by a customs coastguard launch, according to an initial statement issued on Saturday by the Préfecture Maritime de la Manche et de la Mer du Nord (Premar).
Two rescue operations were then carried out on Saturday night, and three others during the day on Sunday, all coordinated by the Gris-Nez Regional Surveillance and Rescue Centre, Premar said on Sunday.
A French Navy patrol boat made two trips on Saturday, rescuing 51 migrants during the night, before recovering 24 other people in difficulty in the same area on Sunday.
A boat from the Dunkirk office of the French national maritime rescue company SNSM (Société Nationale de Sauvetage en Mer) helped shipwreck victims from two other makeshift boats, rescuing 56 people on Saturday night, then another 35 during the day on Sunday.
On Sunday, 51 other migrants were rescued off the coast of Pas-de-Calais, then taken to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer by a coastguard patrol boat.
Once at the quayside, the migrants were all taken care of by the border police and the departmental fire and rescue service, SDIS.
Nearly 1,000 migrants arrived on the English coast on Saturday after crossing the Channel in small, usually overcrowded boats, according to British government figures. Nearly 40,000 have done so since the beginning of the year – far more than for the whole of 2021.
