At the edge of a coastal road in Wimereux, in the Pas-de-Calais, at the first light of dawn, the discreet noise of an air pump. Then an engine. A boat that has just been inflated then emerges from the dune. About fifty migrants then emerge from the shadows one after the other, forcing motorists to stop. At a run, they reach the beach. “We’re going to England”, says a determined Iraqi in the TF1 report at the top of this article.

For fear of police checks, they speed up. Despite the obstacles. Because Wimereux beach is one of the known departure points for England. The group is made up of mostly Kurdish Iraqis and a single young woman. They enter the water at 14 degrees without hesitation. Even though there was no wind on Monday morning, the migrants had to fight against the waves and the current.

Their departure seems chaotic. Some fall and the engine will not start. However, the maneuver is visibly broken in. They are several to maintain the boat. Others, probably smugglers, watch from the shore. The engine finally starts and boarding begins. Last goodbye to France, they have 40 kilometers to travel to the English coast. Their tiny boat then gets lost in a horizon of freighters.

Some migrants failed to get on board. They tell our journalists that they want to take their chance the next day. “It’s not easy. I want to go to the UK, but I couldn’t. I want to leave for another life. It’s already my fifth attempt.”, said one of them.

Those who embarked this morning have managed to reach the English coast. The police did not succeed in stemming these crossings despite a reinforced presence. Because it is impossible to crisscross the more than 150 kilometers of coastline from the Belgian border to the Bay of Somme.