At least four people have died while attempting to cross the English Channel from France to Britain, according to the French coastguard.
Their inflatable boat capsized off the coast of Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France at about 4:30am (02:30 GMT), a coastguard spokesperson said on Friday.
Sixty-three people were rescued in an operation involving navy vessels, a fishing boat and a navy helicopter.
They were returned to Boulogne-sur-Mer and attended to by emergency services and provided temporary shelter.
The prefecture responsible for the north of France said a French Navy patrol boat spotted the overcrowded vessel early on Friday as it deflated off the coast. Many people were in the water, the statement said.
Thousands of people arrive in Britain each year on small boats, which are usually flimsy inflatable dinghies.
The United Kingdom’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government announced plans this week to deal with the influx of small boats crossing from France through the dangerous waters after scrapping the former Conservative government’s Rwanda deportation plan.
The plan, pushed by then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, was set up to dissuade migrants and asylum seekers from arriving in the UK on small boats from France. Under the contentious policy, migrants would be deported to Rwanda to process their asylum claims.
On Friday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said “criminal gangs are making vast profit from putting lives at risk”.
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