French, UK vessels save 157 migrants from burning boat in Channel

So far this year, 14 people have died trying to cross the Channel, based on a tally of official French and British sources

French and British vessels saved 157 migrants after their boat caught fire while trying to cross the Channel on Tuesday, authorities in both countries said.

It is one of the largest such rescue operations reported since records began in 2018.

“A small boat caught fire on the boundary between French and British waters, forcing its occupants to jump overboard” on Tuesday morning, the prefect’s office in France’s Pas-de-Calais region said, adding no casualties had been reported.

They had left the coastal village of Veules-les-Roses in Normandy on Monday, French maritime authorities said.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution charity said a “lifeboat launched at 6am today to an incident”.