Almost 160 people rescued after migrant ‘mega-dinghy’ catches fire in Channel

Almost 160 people have been rescued from a ‘mega-dinghy’ in the English Channel after its engine caught fire.

France’s maritime prefecture of the Channel and North Sea said the boat had left for the UK on Monday and attempted the crossing through the night.

Its ‘integrity deteriorated very rapidly’ when the engine caught fire this morning, and a number of ships were deployed to rescue the migrants on board.

They saved a total of 157 people by the time the operation came to an end earlier today.

There have been no reports of anyone injured or killed in the incident.

The prefecture said five people had been rescued from the dinghy and taken back to the quay in the French town of Boulogne last night.

Its statement said: ‘Determined to reach the United Kingdom, the migrants making the crossing in precarious boats refused assistance offered by French resources and only accepted it in situations of extreme urgency.

‘Given the structural fragility of the systematically overcrowded boats, the decision was made not to force the migrants to board state rescue vessels, to avoid endangering their lives in the event of a shipwreck.’

The incident took place amid heightened attention on the small boat crossings, after the crisis in the Spanish territory of Ceuta.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp has visited the Channel, while Reform UK announced a plan to deploy Royal Navy vessels to return migrants to France yesterday.

Figures from Sunday revealed more than 2,000 people had arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel on small boats since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister.

Burnham responded by saying his government would be ‘relentless’ in driving down the numbers.

According to provisional figures, the number of small boat arrivals so far is just over 14,500 – down 43% on the more than 25,400 who had arrived at this point last year.

The PM said: ‘Progress is being made but we’re not complacent.’

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