French and British rescue teams pulled 157 migrants from the Channel on Tuesday morning after their boat caught fire during an attempted crossing from France to Britain.

The incident, which occurred on the boundary between French and British waters, forced all passengers to jump into the sea. No casualties were reported, according to the prefect’s office in France’s Pas-de-Calais region.

The group had set off from the coastal village of Veules-les-Roses in Normandy on Monday before disaster struck the following morning.

A spokesman for the British coastguard confirmed that UK vessels and a lifeboat were sent to help after “a vessel caught fire earlier this morning whilst in the French search and rescue region”.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution said a lifeboat was launched at 06:00 to respond to the emergency.

This marks one of the largest rescue operations in the Channel since records began in 2018.

Witnesses in France have recently reported seeing unusually large dinghies attempting the crossing. The vessels appear to be around 12 metres long, compared to the typical eight to 10 metres.

French maritime authorities told AFP that the average number of people crammed onto these small boats has jumped from 26 in 2021 to 65 so far this year.

Migrants often pay smugglers thousands of dollars to board overloaded rubber dinghies for the dangerous journey across one of the world’s busiest shipping routes. France remains a main departure point for those hoping to reach Britain.

More than 41 000 migrants arrived on England’s southern coast last year, making it the second-highest annual total since 2018.

So far this year, 14 people have died trying to cross the Channel, according to an AFP tally based on official French and British sources. At least 29 migrants lost their lives in the Channel last year.

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