French, UK vessels save 157 migrants from burning boat in Channel

French and British vessels saved 157 migrants after their boat caught fire while trying to cross the Channel on Tuesday, authorities in both countries said.It is one of the largest such rescue operations reported since records began in 2018.“A small boat caught fire on the boundary between French and British waters, forcing its occupants to jump overboard” on Tuesday morning, the prefect’s office in France’s Pas-de-Calais region said, adding no casualties had been reported.They had left the coastal village of Veules-les-Roses in Normandy on Monday, French maritime authorities said.A spokesman for the British coastguard said UK vessels and a lifeboat were assisting after “a vessel caught fire earlier this morning while in the French search and rescue region”.The Royal National Lifeboat Institution charity said a “lifeboat launched at 6am today to an incident”.Migrants walk from a French rescue ship in Boulogne-sur-Mer on Tuesday following their rescue at sea after their boat caught fire during an attempt to cross the English Channel from France to Britain. Photo: AFP