A boat carrying several migrants caught fire while it was trying to cross the English Channel. According to a report by the news agency AP, French and British teams rescued 157 of these migrants. In their statement, the French maritime authorities said that the engine room of the boat caught fire, causing the accident. The entire accident unfolded while the boat was still in France’s search-and-rescue zone. Its engine caught fire, and it rapidly began to break apart, the maritime prefecture for the English Channel and the North Sea said in a statement. Rescue efforts deployed French authorities deployed two rescue ships, a Navy helicopter, and medical personnel. Britain’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution and Border Force also responded to the incident. The rescue operation brought 157 people to safety. Out of these, 103 were rescued by French vessels and 54 by British vessels. All were due to be disembarked at the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, in northern France, for medical assessment and assistance. French maritime authorities said migrants attempting the crossing in makeshift, overloaded boats often refuse rescue unless faced with an immediate danger. Rescuers do not force people off the boats because of the risk of capsizing that would put people’s lives at risk, the statement said. Travel route of the boat The boat had initially departed Monday from Normandy shores and was being monitored by French rescue vessels. During the night, five people onboard required assistance and were brought ashore at Boulogne-sur-Mer, while the remaining passengers refused help from French rescuers, the statement said. Previous incidents of accidents at the English Channel Last week, four people died in two separate attempts to cross the Channel on small boats. Earlier this year, the UK and French governments signed a new multimillion-euro deal aimed at reducing the number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats, with increased police patrols and enhanced surveillance in northern France. The plan includes the deployment of new technologies aimed at reducing departures of taxi boats, the term authorities use for small motorised vessels that are typically inflatable and are used by smugglers to pick up migrants along long stretches of the northern French coast. Post navigation Chhattisgarh Government Invites Public Feedback on Proposed Uniform Civil Code Congress calls Maharashtra’s Dy CM ‘Goongi Gudiya’:Slams Sunetra Pawar, Shinde labels it as an ‘insult to all women’
