6 Iranian migrants pulled from sinking boat in Channel

PARIS – French maritime authorities have rescued six Iranian migrants whose fishing boat was sinking in the English Channel as they sought to reach Britain.

The overnight rescue effort took more than two hours because extremely thick fog complicated efforts to find the boat, the CROSS maritime authority said in a statement Tuesday.

It said the migrants were found not far from the Calais coast, suffering from mild hypothermia, and handed over to border police.

Migrants fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa continue to converge on Calais in hopes of sneaking across to Britain, despite the closure of a vast migrant camp there last year.

The maritime authority warned that clandestine travel by boat is “extremely risky and dangerous” because of strong currents, cold water, fog and heavy traffic.