A dinghy carrying 173 people has capsized after its engine caught fire as it attempted to cross the Channel from France.
The people onboard were rescued from the water after a large air and sea operation was launched using UK border security and French vessels along with an RNLI boat.
According to French authorities there were initially 173 people onboard but five were rescued overnight in an earlier incident and taken back to Boulogne. The rest of the passengers said they wanted to continue their journey.
The dinghy was carrying the highest number of people so far this year. A boat that arrived on 23 July was carrying 165 passengers.
A coastguard spokesperson said: “A vessel caught fire earlier this morning whilst in the French search and rescue region. UK vessels and a lifeboat are assisting.”
An RNLI spokesperson said Eastbourne’s all-weather lifeboat launched at 6am on Tuesday.
The Calais préfet said 40 firefighters and a specialised medical team were involved in the incident. Eleven people suffered minor injuries and three were taken to hospital in Boulogne.
On Monday, Reform UK proposed using the Royal Navy to return people to France or Belgium under a plan they called “operation fortress”. The party has described the scheme as a humanitarian response.
Last week, four people died on overcrowded boats trying to cross the Channel. Smugglers are using increasingly dangerous techniques in response to successive UK government clampdowns to stop crossings.
They are also launching boats from parts of the French coast that are farther away from the UK in the hope of evading French police interceptions. The boat on Tuesday reportedly left from Dieppe, about 70 miles (112km) from the UK compared with the Calais to Dover route of 27 miles.
The new prime minister, Andy Burnham, has promised to continue working to stop the crossings, although more than 2,000 people have crossed the Channel since he became prime minister. The government has put a number of deterrents in place to stop crossings, but desperate people continue to get into increasingly dangerous dinghies.
According to a statement issued by French authorities on Tuesday, the people in the boat initially refused an offer of assistance. “Given the structural fragility of the 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 statement read.
All 173 people have now been returned to Boulogne.
