French and British teams rescue 157 migrants after a boat engine fire in the Channel

PARIS — French and British teams rescued 157 migrants who were trying to cross the English Channel after the engine of their boat caught fire, French maritime authorities said.

On Tuesday morning, while the boat was still in France’s search-and-rescue zone near British waters, its engine caught fire and it rapidly began to break apart, the maritime prefecture for the English Channel and the North Sea said in a statement. French authorities deployed two rescue ships, a Navy helicopter and medical personnel. Britain’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution and Border Force also responded.

The rescue operation brought 157 people to safety – 103 rescued by French vessels and 54 by British vessels. All were due to be disembarked at the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, in northern France, for medical assessment and assistance.

The boat had initially departed Monday from Normandy shores and was being monitored by French rescue vessels. During the night, five people onboard required assistance and were brought ashore at Boulogne-sur-Mer, while the remaining passengers refused help from French rescuers, the statement said.

French maritime authorities said migrants attempting the crossing in makeshift, overloaded boats often refuse rescue unless faced with an immediate danger. Rescuers do not force people off the boats because of the risk of capsizing that would put people’s lives at risk, the statement said.

Last week, four people died in two separate attempts to cross the Channel on small boats.

Earlier this year, the U.K. and French governments signed a new multimillion-euro deal aimed at reducing the number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats, with increased police patrols and enhanced surveillance in northern France.

The plan includes the deployment of new technologies aimed at reducing departures of “taxi boats,” the term authorities use for small motorized vessels that are typically inflatable and are used by smugglers to pick up migrants along long stretches of the northern French coast.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said an estimated 10,000 migrants have crossed the Channel from France to Britain since the beginning of the year, compared with 24,000 in the same period last year. The number of successful crossing attempts is 160 this year, down from 413, he said.