(CNN) — More than 150 migrants were rescued in the early hours of Tuesday morning after a boat caught fire in the English Channel in an attempt to travel from France to Britain.
The boat’s engine caught fire and its “condition deteriorated very rapidly,” forcing French and British coastguards to rescue 157 people, France’s maritime prefecture of the Channel and North Sea said.
French authorities had already rescued five people from the boat overnight Monday. They had sent several vessels to monitor the boat’s crossing when it set out from near Boulogne-sur-Mer on Monday, as these types of voyages are notoriously dangerous – a total of 162 people have died in migrant boats trying to cross the Channel between 2018 and 2025, according to the Migration Observatory.
There are no reports of any fatalities in this instance.
Small boat crossings have become a political flashpoint in the UK in recent years, driving harder-line immigration policies from both center-right Conservative and center-left Labour governments, and contributing to the rise of the populist hard-right party Reform UK.
Just two days before Tuesday’s rescue, Britain’s new Prime Minister Andy Burnham pledged his government will be “relentless” in tackling the issue. He highlighted recent “increased enforcement activity” as well as the need to create a system which “offers safe routes for people as well, because that also takes away the selling point of the gangs.”
Tens of thousands people have attempted the dangerous crossing since 2018, desperate to seek asylum or a better life. Many are fleeing persecution or war from countries like Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iran or Sudan. Often, they travel in overcrowded, barely seaworthy boats – like rigid-hulled inflatable boats, dinghies or kayaks.
But such is their determination to reach the UK, they “routinely refuse assistance offered by French resources, only accepting help when faced with situations of extreme emergency,” said the French maritime prefecture.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The-CNN-Wire
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