The French Navy rescues refugees from the English Channel

The French Navy rescued 41 refugees in the English Channel who had been in distress in their small boats on the crossing to Great Britain.

The Maritime Preservation announced that in the first case, people who had capsized were already swimming in the water on Wednesday when the Navy and an offshore rescue ship rushed to help. A helicopter was used to search the waters for other victims. A little later, another group of refugees was rescued from their boat by another warship. The 41 rescued, four of whom were hypothermic, were taken to the ports of Boulogne-sur-Mer and Calais.

The UK saw a record number of around 46,000 migrants on boats last year. That’s about 17,000 more than the previous year and more than at any time in a single year. Paris and London recently agreed to jointly intensify the fight against unwanted immigration. As it became known on Monday, 3,793 people traveled irregularly from France across the English Channel to Great Britain in the first quarter of this year. This is less than a fifth of what it was in the same period last year.

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