FRENCH and British rescue teams saved 157 migrants after their boat caught fire while attempting to cross the English Channel on Tuesday, authorities from both countries said.
The rescue operation is one of the largest reported since records began in 2018.
A small boat caught fire on the boundary between French and British waters on Tuesday morning, forcing those on board to jump into the water, the prefect's office in France's Pas-de-Calais region said. It added that no casualties had been reported.
French maritime authorities said the migrants had left the coastal village of Veules-les-Roses in Normandy on Monday.
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A spokesperson for the British coastguard said UK vessels and a lifeboat were helping after "a vessel caught fire earlier this morning whilst in the French search and rescue region".
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution charity said a "lifeboat launched at 6:00 am today to an incident".
In recent weeks, witnesses in France have reported seeing dinghies larger than usual crossing the Channel. They said the boats appeared to be 12 metres (40 feet) long instead of the more common 8 or 10 metres.
French maritime authorities told AFP that the average number of people on these small boats has increased from 26 in 2021 to 65 since the start of this year.
France has long been a departure point for migrants trying to reach Britain by crossing the Channel.
After paying smugglers thousands of dollars, migrants often board overloaded rubber dinghies to make the crossing across one of the world's busiest shipping routes.
More than 41,000 migrants reached England's southern coast last year, the second-highest annual total since 2018.
So far this year, 14 people have died while attempting to cross the Channel, according to an AFP tally based on official French and British sources.
At least 29 migrants died in the Channel last year, according to a similar AFP count.
(With inputs from agencies)
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