French Patrol Boats Rescue 33 Migrants Heading For England

Muhammad Irfan Published August 09, 2020 | 02:00 AM

Lille, France, Aug 8 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Aug, 2020 ) :French patrol boats on Saturday rescued dozens of migrants from makeshift boats in the Channel that were heading to England, maritime officials said.

British interior minister Priti Patel on Friday described the volume of migrants crossing the Channel as "appalling and unacceptably high" and called on France to help keep numbers down.

France's regional maritime monitoring and rescue operation said it acted "on several reports of small boats of migrants in difficulty in the straights" off Calais.

At around 8:00 am a French patrol boat saved 17 migrants aboard two separate vessels northeast of France's port city of Calais, said the operation said in a statement.

About an hour later another boat rescued 16 migrants from another vessel in trouble off Sangatte, which used to host a makeshift camp for migrants heading to England.

Border police serving the Calais region are looking after the 33 migrants, whose nationalities were not immediately disclosed, the statement said.