Around 140 migrants travelling in a single dinghy have been rescued in the English Channel. The inflatable vessel, which launched from the Normandy coast overnight, requested help in UK waters and was picked up by two RNLI boats, according to the French coastguard. The individuals will now be taken to shore in the UK.
This rescue comes days after Prime Minister Andy Burnham and French President Emmanuel Macron met to discuss increasing efforts to reduce small boat crossings. In August, a single small boat carrying a record 230 people successfully crossed the Channel.
The dinghy launched in the Bay of the Seine and was shadowed for approximately 10 hours by French rescue boats before reaching UK waters at lunchtime. French authorities noted that it is unusual for migrant boats to depart from this area, which is 170 miles from the usual launch points around Calais, making the crossing significantly longer. Local officials reported an increase in people attempting to depart from Normandy last year.
In bilateral talks on Thursday, Burnham and Macron agreed they were making progress in reducing small boat crossings but needed to go further. While the number of crossings during summer months has decreased to its lowest since 2019, smugglers reportedly have started loading more people onto fewer, larger vessels, sometimes called "mega dinghies."
It is thought that people smugglers are going to greater lengths to avoid detection due to more robust policing in the Calais area. Downing Street has stated that 45 extra police officers are being deployed to French beaches as a "surge team" to address larger dinghies packed with more people.