MONA RIGOLET

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184 migrants rescued in numerous operations

During the night of May 30 and on May 31, numerous migrant boat departures were reported to the CROSS Gris-Nez. First, the departure of a boat was reported to the CROSS in the Fort-Mahon beach sector. The CROSS dispatched the patrol vessel 'Jeanne Barret' to locate and monitor it. Some of the occupants quickly requested to be rescued. The 'Jeanne Barret's operational rescue boat (EDO) then rescued 60 people. Several people did not wish to be rescued and remained on the precarious boat under the surveillance of the 'Jeanne Barret', which finally retrieved them a few minutes later. All 78 rescued people disembarked in Boulogne-sur-Mer on the early morning of May 31 and were taken into care by the land authorities. At the same time, the CROSS Gris-Nez also engaged the 'Abeille Normandie' to assist another migrant boat in the Wimereux beach area. The tug monitored the boat until its engine failed, forcing all the migrants to request assistance, and recovered 61 migrants before being deployed on two other boat monitoring operations. In the absence of a request for assistance from them, the 'Abeille Normandie' was able to sail to Boulogne-sur-Mer to drop off the migrants. At the same time, the Dunkirk signal (59) reported another departure from the port. The 'Oyapock', already in the area monitoring another boat, noticed it was a taxi boat picking up more migrants on the beach at Grand-Fort Philippe .Leaving the Oyapock's initial surveillance zone, the taxi boat was relocated by the S-100 drone deployed by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) to the CROSS Gris-Nez, which also engaged the PSP 'Cormoran', which began monitoring migrant boats entering the waters of the traffic separation scheme. On the early morning of May 31, the patrol boat picked up nine migrants requesting rescue. They were disembarked in Calais n the early afternoon. At midday, the 'SNS-067 - Mona Rigolet' from the Calais SNSM station was deployed by the CROSS to assist another boat off the coast of Dunkirk. Once in the area, the lifeboat began its surveillance and then assisted 36 people, who disembarked in Calais in the early afternoon. A total of 184 people were rescued and taken into care by government resources.

Lifeboat rescued 28 migrants

On the night of April 11, a migrant boat got in difficulty, and the CROSS Gris-Nez deployed the 'Abeille Normandie' to locate and monitor the boat, as well as the SNSM lifeboat 'SNS-067 Mona Rigolet' from Calais. The lifeboat picked up the 28 occupants of the boat and delivered them to the dock in Calais. On the morning of April 12, the CROSS Gris-Nez CROSS was informed of another migrant boat heading towards the Malo-les-Bains area and deployed the 'Ridens' to monitor the it. Once near the boat, some of the occupants requested assistance. The 'Ridens' rescued 19 people from the boat, while the remaining occupants continued on their way. At midday, the CROSS was once again informed of the departure of a boat from the Hardelot area, and engaged the 'DFP1 Jacques Oudart Fourmentin' to locate and monitor it. Once on site, the customs vessel rescued three occupants from the boat. Several people still on board refused any assistance and continued on their way. The three rescued people were dropped off at the quay in Boulogne-sur-Mer. In total, 50 people were rescue and safely brought to the ashore, where they were taken into care by land-based rescue services.