More than 150 migrants were rescued after a boat attempting to cross the Channel caught fire on Tuesday morning, French authorities said.

The French maritime prefecture for the Channel and North Sea said the vessel was travelling towards the UK when its engine caught fire. It said 157 people were pulled to safety and were being taken to port in Boulogne-sur-Mer. French authorities said there were no reports of anyone being injured or killed.

The incident comes a day after UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the government would be “relentless” in curbing the number of people arriving in the UK on small boats.

Overnight Rescue Requests

French authorities said the boat left France on Monday night.

They said that during the night, five people on board required rescue. The prefecture added that the remaining people refused assistance offered by French patrol boats.

In a statement, it said migrants attempting to reach the UK in small boats refused help from French emergency services, accepting it only in situations of extreme emergency.

The prefecture said that, because of the “structural fragility” of vessels used for Channel crossings, it did not intervene further at that stage.

Engine Fire and Rapid Deterioration

This morning, the engine caught fire, the maritime prefecture said. It added that the vessel’s condition deteriorated very rapidly after the fire began.

As the situation developed, rescue teams were deployed from both France and the UK.

Rescue Boats Respond From Both Sides

French and UK boats went to the scene, including the RNLI Eastbourne lifeboat. UK Border Force vessels BSC Contender and BSC Courageous were also involved, according to the prefecture.

French authorities said two French boats rescued 103 migrants. They said British boats rescued 54 more people.

All those rescued were then taken to Boulogne-sur-Mer for treatment.

Expected Arrival for Treatment

The maritime prefecture said the rescue groups were expected to arrive in Boulogne-sur-Mer at 12:30 local time (11:30 BST) on Tuesday, where the migrants would receive medical care.

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4 August 2026

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14 hours ago, webfact said:

More than 150 migrants were rescued

It's a pity they didn't make it to their desired destination🤡

1 hour ago, newbee2022 said:

It's a pity they didn't make it to their desired destination🤡

They will get there sooner or later. They might even fly them in after this tragedy and delay.

This is terrible.

The UK has paid France hundreds of millions of pounds over several years specifically to increase beach patrols, disrupt smuggling gangs, and prevent launches, obviously its a total waste of money, as its not working?☹️

Here’s EU Member Greece, firing live rounds at migrant dinghies and using their Border Force vessels to block them and shove them back into Turkish waters.

UK BE MORE GREECE 🇬🇷

55 minutes ago, Smokey and the Bandit said:

This is terrible.

The UK has paid France hundreds of millions of pounds over several years specifically to increase beach patrols, disrupt smuggling gangs, and prevent launches, obviously its a total waste of money, as its not working?☹️

The authorities should have throne these scumbags life rings attached to cement blocks.

1 minute ago, wavodavo said:

The authorities should have throne these scumbags life rings attached to cement blocks.

A few years ago when Australia had a strong liberal Prime minister armadas of illegal immigrants were starting to head to it's shores by boat so they engaged the maritime service and the navy and turned them back.The ones that made it were sent to a detention centre on Christmas Island for ptocessing and over time sent back from whence they came.The people smugglers soon gave up.No more boats ! I heard last night that the next PM of the UK Nigel Farage is planning to do the same thing because there is no other way out.

7 hours ago, Smokey and the Bandit said:

This is terrible.

The UK has paid France hundreds of millions of pounds over several years specifically to increase beach patrols, disrupt smuggling gangs, and prevent launches, obviously its a total waste of money, as its not working?☹️

No, it wasn't enough money 🤡 So simple 🤣

A good news story about 150 lives being saved and posters have nothing but negative comments .

Slippery slope guys…….slippery slope.

9 minutes ago, Red Forever said:

A good news story about 150 lives being saved and posters have nothing but negative comments .

Slippery slope guys…….slippery slope.

And one poster even saying they should be drowned:

"The authorities should have throne these scumbags life rings attached to cement blocks."

There's only one scumbag in this story. Imagine living with that much hate. @wavodavo

Edited August 6Aug 6 by josephbloggs

I sincerely hope that all these migrants reach their new home in the UK safely and find the opportunities they seek.

34 minutes ago, nick supreme said:

I sincerely hope that all these migrants reach their new home in the UK

If you live in the UK ?

then I sincerely hope that they take your job your home and your wife ! 'som nom na'

They should have passed them over some more petrol for their engine so they could return to where they sailed from/home!

12 hours ago, Red Forever said:

A good news story about 150 lives being saved and posters have nothing but negative comments .

Slippery slope guys…….slippery slope.

You are the only one here on a slippery slope Red old boy.These boat people arrive on British shores having thrown their passports and ID papers in the drink so the authorities don't know who they are or where they are from or what criminal history they have. There are ways to migrate to another country the legal way so they can be vetted., but don't worry when Nigel Farage get's the keys to number 10 he will adopt the Australian anti- boat people formula.... get the Navy to turn them around and send them back to where they came from. It's the only way to stop this madness.

7 hours ago, wavodavo said:

You are the only one here on a slippery slope Red old boy.These boat people arrive on British shores having thrown their passports and ID papers in the drink so the authorities don't know who they are or where they are from or what criminal history they have. There are ways to migrate to another country the legal way so they can be vetted., but don't worry when Nigel Farage get's the keys to number 10 he will adopt the Australian anti- boat people formula.... get the Navy to turn them around and send them back to where they came from. It's the only way to stop this madness.

And what happens when France refuses to take them back? Tell us in practical terms how this plan will work.

It won't. It can't. It isn't a real plan. It's a soundbite for people like you.

1 hour ago, josephbloggs said:

And what happens when France refuses to take them back? Tell us in practical terms how this plan will work.

It won't. It can't. It isn't a real plan. It's a soundbite for people like you.

So the so this is what will happen when Nigel Farage gets in. The UK will turn back the boats and once they reach French waters they are France's problem. Afer all they let them all in so they are now bound to deal with them under the UN convention 1951.The French right to assylum or droit d'asille is enshrined in the code of entry and residence and all other EU countries are also abliged to adhere to it.. as far as I know the UK is no longer in the EU so that's it . It's up to France to deal with it. Also to be a geuine refugee you have to prove that your life was in danger for certain reasons and the first country that you arrive in is obliged to take you and not the 2nd 3rd, 4th etc. etc country.

46 minutes ago, wavodavo said:

So the so this is what will happen when Nigel Farage gets in. The UK will turn back the boats and once they reach French waters they are France's problem. Afer all they let them all in so they are now bound to deal with them under the UN convention 1951.The French right to assylum or droit d'asille is enshrined in the code of entry and residence and all other EU countries are also abliged to adhere to it.. as far as I know the UK is no longer in the EU so that's it . It's up to France to deal with it. Also to be a geuine refugee you have to prove that your life was in danger for certain reasons and the first country that you arrive in is obliged to take you and not the 2nd 3rd, 4th etc. etc country.

Nope. For a start Farage is not "getting in", he's toast.

Secondly The UK cannot legally enter French territorial waters to drop off migrants without France's explicit permission, and France have already said that would not be forthcoming and entering their waters would be a "direct violation of French sovereignty".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr59qyy4l5yo

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) dictates that once rescued they must be taken to the nearest place of safety. You cannot tow them back out in to international waters and you certainly can't shove them in to a third country's territorial waters.

Oh, and there is no "first country" rule in the 1951 UN Refugee Convention so you're wrong on that too.

As I said it is a completely unrealistic and unworkable "plan" and is a desperate attempt to get support from his usual subset of supporters.......and it is working on that front. On every single other front (like an intelligent one) it just makes Farage look desperate, he's flapping around and close to drowning, ironically.

Get the plight, but QE1 would have sunk them all. That’s what happens during an invasion. Pop of Britain gets to 100M, 200M. What happens to public services, pensions etc? How many is too many, numpty left donkeys? Sound like Trump, but there must be a limit right or your country has gone….