ABEILLE NORMANDIE

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107 migrants rescued in numerous interventions

During the night of Dec 24, numerous departures of migrant boats were reported to the CROSS Gris-Nez between Dieppe and Leffrinckoucke. Very early in the morning, the CROSS engaged the 'SNS 087 Jean Bart II' of the SNSM and the 'Abeille Normandie' to monitor a migrant boat, some of whose occupants were requesting assistance off the coast of the Dunkirk sector. The tug initially went to the scene, but was quickly re-engaged on another operation, the 'SNS 087', once on site, took over the surveillance, went to contact the boat and gradually recovered 30 people requesting to be rescued. The rest of the occupants of the boat were taken care of by British resources once they arrived in British waters. The boat then headed towards the port of Dunkirk, where the 30 rescued migrantss were taken care of by the onshore services. At the same time, off the coast of Dunkirk, another attempt to cross the strait was reported to the CROSS, which engaged the 'SNS 077-Notre-Dame du Risban' and the 'Abeille Normandie' to ensure close monitoring of the boat. Initially, the SNSM boat went to the scene to assist the migrant boat, which first refused assistance. Later, the migrant boat was reported to be in difficulty due to an engine failure. The 'Abeille Normandie' took over from the 'SNS 077' and rescued 51 people. After this first recovery, the CROSS engaged the 'Abeille Normandie' in another surveillance operation reported at the Walde Lighthouse Arriving on site, the tug reported that the occupants wanted to be rescued, launched its semi-rigid boat and rescued 26 people. All migrants were dropped off at the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer. In total, 107 people were rescued.

94 migrants rescued off Pas-de-Calais

During the night of Dec 13, numerous departures of migrant boats were reported to the CROSS Gris-Nez off the coast of Pas-de-Calais. In the middle of the night, a migrant boat near Calais reported itself in difficulty to the CROSS, which engaged the 'Jacques Oudart Fourmentin', which was located nearby, to assist, along with the 'Minck', the lifeboat 'SNS 077-Notre Dame de Risban' from the SNSM station in Calais, and a Dauphin helicopter from the French Navy, Tthe CROSS Gris-Nez also notified a plane chartered by the State "Action Air Environnement", which was in the area, to monitor the situation. Once on site, the resources noted that the boat was sinking and that some of its occupants were in the water. All the resources immediately put their semi-rigid boats in the water and started to recover the people. The Dauphin helicopter dropped off buoyancy aids. The all-weather boat 'Notre Dame de Risban' and the helicopter Dauphin then investigated the area of ​​the shipwreck, based on drift calculations, to look for any isolated castaways not yet recovered and to ensure that there is no one at sea. After the area was fully investigated for several hours, the maritime prefect of the Channel and the North Sea decided to stop the search, shortly after 4 a.m. LT. 72 castaways were rescued and then dropped off at the Paul Devot quay in Calais, where they were taken care of by the land rescue services, including a medical team, and the border police. During the sinking, 16 people who had returned to the beach by their own means, were also rescued directly on land by the rescue and security forces. On the morning, the CROSS Gris-Nez deployed the 'Abeille Normandie' to locate another boat with migrants in the Blériot-Plage sector. The tug crew closely monitored the boat for several hours and notified the CROSS of its entry into the traffic separation scheme of Pas-de-Calais.

120 migrants rescued in several missions

On the night of Dec 11, numerous departures of migrant boats in the Strait of Pas-de-Calais, were reported to the CROSS Gris-Nez, which deployed the VCSM 'Oyapock' to monitor a migrant boat off Petit-Fort-Philippe. Following an engine failure, the people on board the boat requested assistance. The 'Oyapock' picked up 52 people and dropped them off at the port of Dunkirk, where theys were taken care of by the land rescue services. At the same time, another departure of migrants was reported to the CROSS off Audresselles. The 'Abeille Normandie' was deployed for surveillance. After a few hours, the tug crew noticed that the boat had stopped off Wissantorder to embark people waiting on the beach for an attempt to cross the strait. The tug launched its semi-rigid boats in order to anticipate any danger caused by this embarkation from the coast. The 'Abeille Normandie' recovered two people who were in the water and continued to monitor the rest of the people on board the boat, which refused any assistance. The two people taken care of by the 'Abeille Normandie' were then transferred to the 'Minck', which had been deployed in parallel by the CROSS Gris-Nez for another rescue operation in the Grand-Fort-Philippe sector: Following an engine failure of their boat, the migrants on board requested assistance from the 'Minck', which recovered 64 people, who, as well as the two people previously transferred aboard from the 'Abeille Normandie', were brought back to the port of Calais and taken care of by the land rescue services. The 'Borda', a hydrographic vesse of thel French Navy, also rescued two people and brought them back to the quay in Boulogne-sur-Mer.