This is the dramatic moment French police stopped a party of 45 migrants from crossing the Channel by puncturing the boat and busting up its motor.
Just after sundown on Saturday evening in Gravelines, a peaceful tourist town between Calais and Dunkirk, migrants in red life vests emerged from the sand dunes and dashed for the sea.
Several ladies and men were carrying little children, while a big group of primarily young men trailed after, pulling a black boat over their heads. However, they were stopped by a police vehicle that rushed across the beach, with cops springing out to puncture the boat with a knife as the migrants fled.
As a cop seemed to employ pepper spray, one sank to his knees with his hands shielding his face. Bemused tourists watched as police crushed the outboard engine to pieces, and the migrants went dejectedly back to the dunes. There were no arrests. Despite their joy, it happened on the same day when 10 small boats carrying 337 migrants successfully launched from the French coast and arrived in the UK, bringing the total number of migrants this year to more over 18,000, according to Ministry of Defence estimates.
The dismal milestone came only five days after Border Force rescued and brought 696 individuals to land on Monday, the biggest day for Channel crossings so far this year.
Crossings are expected to resume this week, with the Met Office expecting mild weather and calm winds on the south coast.
In recent months, at least five smuggling groups have exploited the Gravelines area, which seems to be growing more daring by trying perilous night crossings.
Elia Carpentier, 20, who works in the seaside tourism office, said she saw a boat full of migrants depart the beach around 7 p.m. on Friday.
‘I was startled since they usually depart as the sun goes down or at daybreak,’ she said.
‘The boat was waiting for them at the water’s edge. I’m not sure how many people boarded, but there were men, women, and children among them.’
The French police operation was the result of a three-hour cat-and-mouse game between cops and the migrants hidden in the scrubland below the dunes.
From 6.30pm till sundown, a Daily Mail writer and photographer laid on the sand at the water’s edge, hiding behind a couple of French bird hunters.
Across binoculars, two cops could be seen regularly observing a group of 18 young male migrants traveling through the scrubland from that vantage point.
Miss Carpentier, 20, of Gravelines, claimed it was a well-kept secret where the migrants hid before trying to cross the Channel.
‘There is a tent at the further end of the beach, and beyond that is a forest,’ she said.
‘They slept there for a night or two before waiting for a boat.’ They just leave their belongings – I notice it when I walk my dog.’