The French navy on Wednesday rescued 85 migrants attempting to cross the Channel from France to England, the latest in a series of dangerous crossings resulting in deaths, maritime authorities said.
France's Channel and North Sea prefecture said in a statement that one of “many” migrant boats at sea had called for help after crashing into a sand bar off the Pas-de-Calais region.
Navy tugboats said they had rescued 80 passengers from that ship and five more from a second migrant boat at a different location.
The migrants were taken back to land in Boulogne-sur-Mer, where emergency services and border police responded.
More than 70 migrants have died this year trying to cross the Channel to Britain, according to Pas-de-Calais authorities.
Tens of thousands more have reached the UK, and the British government has vowed to crack down on smuggling rings.
Police in Germany conducted a pre-dawn raid on Wednesday targeting a Syrian and Iraqi Kurdish criminal network suspected of smuggling migrants from France to Britain by boat.
