The French National Sea Rescue Society (SNSM) in Gravelines has been using a floating platform for several months to facilitate large-scale sea rescues. The Calais station hopes to also add this device to its rescue boats.
It is an inflatable platform, 6 meters long and 2 meters wide, equipped with a handrail and handles that rescuers can attach to their boat during a rescue operation.
"The idea is that people can hoist their upper bodies onto this platform while waiting to be brought back aboard the boat," Philippe Darques, president of the French Sea Rescue Society (SNSM) in Calais, told InfoMigrants.
The SNSM in Gravelines-Grand-Fort-Philippe is already using the inflatable platform in its sea rescue operations, according to local media outlet Nord-Littoral. The Calais station hopes to add the equipment to its boats as well.
On Oct. 22, members of both stations met in Calais for a presentation and training session on the platform, which is designed to improve safety during sea rescues. The equipment could prove particularly useful in the English Channel, where increasingly serious shipwrecks are a concern as so-called mega-boats, sometimes carrying up to 200 people, become more common.
When a shipwreck occurs and several people end up in the water at the same time, every minute counts. "We can only bring one person back onto the boat at a time, and during that time, people risk drowning," Philippe Darques said.
"The goal is to be able to provide the best and fastest possible rescue," he added.
Rescuers seek funding for new safety equipment
On October 22, the two teams were also able to compare their boats and see how to adapt the floating platform to the Calais fleet.
"Among the modifications to be made to the boat is the installation of a support capable of accommodating this platform when it is deflated, as well as equipment to inflate it as quickly as possible," Philippe Darques said.
But these adaptations represent a significant financial cost for the French Sea Rescue Society (SNSM), which is exploring ways to secure funding.
Faced with the militarization of the French coastline near Calais, departures are shifting toward Seine-Maritime farther south. However, tragedies have not disappeared off the beaches of Nord and Pas-de-Calais.
In early October, two migrants, one in his 30s and the other in his 40s, died during an attempted crossing off Berck, in Pas-de-Calais. In total, since the beginning of the year, 24 migrants have died at sea along the French-British border.