ABEILLE NORMANDIE

General information

Course/Position

Latest news

74 migrants rescued from two boats

On March 27, two rescue operations were coordinated by the CROSS Gris-Nez. On the morning the CROSS was informed of a migrant boat leaving the beach at Petit-Fort-Philippe. The CROSS engaged the 'SNS 276-Notre Dame des Flandres' and a patrol boat from Dunkirk, to locate and monitor the boat. Once in contact with the boat, its occupants made a request for assistance. The lifeboat then recovered the 12 people aboard the boat and dropped them off at the quay in Gravelines. The same morning, the CROSS received a call from an occupant of a boat off Wimereux and engaged the 'Abeille Normandie', which was then relieved by the BEGM 'Thétis' of the French Navy. Following their request for assistance, the 'Thétis' recovered all 62 migrants and dropped them off at the dock in Calais. A total of 74 people were rescued during the responses.

168 boat people rescued in numerous responses

During the night of March 20 to March 21, 2025, numerous migrant boat departures were reported to the CROSS Gris-Nez. Early on the evening of March 20, 2025, the CROSS Gris-Nez engaged the 'Minck' to locate a boat reported in the Slack dunes area. Once in the area, the 'Minck' monitored the boat. Faced with an engine failure, the migrants requested the rescue by the 'Minck', which picked up 62 people on board. They were dropped off at the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer in the middle of the night. The CROSS Gris-Nez then engaged the 'Abeille Normandie' off the coast of Slack. Following a request for assistance from some of the migrants, the tug rescued 35 people on board, including two injured people and one unconscious person. The CROSS deployed the French Navy's Dauphin helicopter based in Le Touquet to evacuate the unconscious person, whose condition was stable from the 'Abeille Normandie'. The Dauphin hoisted the victims and transported them to the hospital in Boulogne-sur-Mer, where they were treated in the middle of the night. The people rescued by the 'Abeille Normandie' were taken back to Boulogne-sur-Mer early in the morning, where they were treated by the firefighters. Meanwhile, the remaining people on board the migrant boat, who did not request assistance, continued on their way, remaining under the surveillance of French resources. In the middle of the night, the CROSS Gris-Nez then engaged the 'Jeanne Barret' and the 'SNS 076-Président Jacques Huret' from the Boulogne-sur-Mer SNSM station to locate a precarious boat in the Cran-Poulet area. The 'Abeille Normandie' was also deployed to support these resources. Once the overloaded boat was located, the 'Jeanne Barret' and the 'Abeille Normandie' launched their tenders to rescue all migrants who requested assistance. 63 people were thus picked up by the 'Jeanne Barret', which dropped them off at the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer early in the morning. Finally, also in the middle of the night, off the coast of Dunkirk, the CROSS Gris-Nez engaged the 'Ridens', which rescued eight people from a boat, wile the rest of the migrants continued on their way without requesting assistance. The 'Ridens' continued its surveillance until the early morning, and then headed for Calais to disembark the eight rescued people at the quayside. 168 boat people were rescued, including three injured people treated by land rescue services and the Boulogne-sur-Mer hospital.

37 migrants rescued off Malo-les-Bains

On March 9, a migrant boat departure was reported to the CROSS Gris-Nez off Malo-les-Bains, which initially engaged the lifeboat 'SNS 276-Notre-Dame des Flandres' from the Gravelines SNSM station to monitor the boat, then joined by the 'Abeille Normandie'. Following the request for assistance from some of the boat's occupants, the 'Abeille Normandie' recovered 37 people on board. Following this recovery, the emergency tug requested medical assistance for one person. The CROSS then set up a conference call with the Toulouse maritime medical consultation center (CCMM) and the 'Abeille Normandie'. Following this conference call, it was recommended that the person be brought back to the quay to be taken care of on land by the land rescue services. The 'Abeille Normandie' then dropped off the 37 migrants at the quay in Boulogne-sur-Mer.