English Channel sees uptick in migrants trying to cross over

PARIS: British and French authorities said some 40 migrants were rescued in the waters between southern England and northern France on Christmas Day, amid a spike in attempts by migrants to cross the English Channel to British shores on small boats.

The French regional maritime authority, or prefecture, said in a statement that a small rubber boat with a failed engine was spotted on Tuesday off the coast of Calais. A police helicopter monitoring the area directed a

Castaways: Migrants aboard the rubber dinghy with a

tugboat to the stranded migrants,

failed engine after being intercepted by French authorities

the prefecture said.

off Calais, northern France. — AP

The maritime authority said eight migrants, including two children, were found aboard the boat and handed over to British authorities. It didn’t provide the passengers’ nationalities.

Calais, a port city on one end of a Channel tunnel that connects France and England by train, long has been a magnet for migrants fleeing conflict or poverty in Africa and the Mid-East. French officials two years ago closed a makeshift camp that swelled to a population of 10,000 at one point as people waited to try to hop trucks taking rail ferries or trains to England.