Two migrants rescued by French coastguards after trying to cross Channel in children’s dinghy
Men spent 12 hours hours struggling to paddle four-foot inflatable raft in heavy seas
Two migrants were rescued by coastguards yesterday after trying to ROW across the Channel in toy rubber dinghy.
The pair, Iranians in their forties, were spotted by a trawler as they struggled through heavy seas in the four-foot inflatable.
A photo released by French authorities shows the men being rescued with the white cliffs of the Kent coast clearly visible in the background.
It is the latest in a series of attempted crossings over the Channel from France to Britain and comes after Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart threatened to pull the plug on a wall around the port.
French coastguards were alerted by the trawler just before noon yesterday morning and a helicopter and patrol boat were sent to the scene around seven miles off the coast of Boulogne-sur-Mer.
Officials said the men had spent 12 hours at sea and were paddling furiously towards Britain, but the current was stopping them from making any progress.
They had set sail from Sangette near Calais at midnight yesterday.
Last night both men were in a local hospital suffering from exhaustion and hypothermia, but they were expected to make a full recovery.
A French coastguard spokesman said: "An alert was received from a French trawler which said they were suspicious of a small rubber dinghy with two people onboard and which was rowing towards Britain.
"A helicopter and a patrol boat were sent to investigate and found the two men who had been at sea for several hours... They were taken onto the coastguard vessel and taken to a local hospital.
"We would like to underline that such crossings are not only illegal but also very dangerous — the Channel is a notoriously difficult stretch of water and is one of the most busiest shipping areas in the world.
"The currents and deep troughs, as well as the changeable weather, mean that if someone falls into the water they have very little chance of survival."
French prosecutors are now expected to question the men about the crossing to see if there was any involvement with people-smuggling gangs.
In August five Iranians were held by Sussex police after they crossed the Channel on a dinghy and landed at Winchelsea.
The village is 20 miles from Dymchurch in Kent, where a group of 18 Albanians attempting to enter the UK illegally were rescued when their boat began to sink in May.
Smugglers Robert Stilwell, 33, and Mark Stribling, 35, who helped the 16 adults and two children, were jailed last month for more than four years each.
A court heard the group of migrants, accompanied by Stilwell and Stribling wearing pink life jackets, had been minutes from death.
Meanwhile Calais mayor Bouchart has demanded building work on the Great Wall of Calais to stop.
Construction on the £2million UK-funded wall began earlier this week, and officials hope it will stop migrants from trying to sneak onto trucks bound for Britain.
But Calais mayor Bouchart has fired off a complaint to government chiefs in Paris and demanded workers down tools.
In a statement she said the 13ft wall broke local planning regulations as it was being built in a protected area.
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The mile-long wall stretches along the main motorway leading to the ferry port and was set to be finished by Christmas.
More than 10,000 migrants are now living in the infamous jungle camp near Calais, which France has promised it will close down by the end of the year.
A French coastguard spokesman said there had been a dozen similar rescue operations so far this year but others were suspected of having successfully made the crossing.