Just a day after 12 migrants died in a failed attempt to cross the English Channel, another boat carrying several dozen people appears to be making another attempt to reach the UK from northern France.
Journalists on a beach in Wimereux are broadcasting live video of an inflatable boat carrying people, seemingly migrants, out to sea.
The beach is on the northern French coastline and close to the site of Tuesday’s deadly sinking.
The boat is so laden that some of those aboard, crammed side-by-side on the inflatable tubes, have their legs over the sides.
Many are wearing orange lifejackets.
A small grey patrol boat flying a French flag approached the inflatable at one point and a crewmember then tossed more orange life vests – about half a dozen of them – to people aboard the vessel, who caught them.
A larger patrol vessel – identified by maritime authorities as the French Gendarmerie’s coastal patrol vessel Armoise – is shadowing the inflatable from a distance.
The French maritime agency that oversees that stretch of the channel confirmed to the AP that an operation was under way to monitor the inflatable, in case it runs into difficulty or the people aboard request assistance.
The agency said that the Armoise was involved in that operation, accompanied by a smaller boat.
The grey seas of the English Channel are comparatively calm, but the inflatable appears to be making only slow headway.
Even though journalists filmed it for more than an hour, it remained clearly visible from shore, with the small patrol vessel in attendance.
