A statement from the French Maritime Prefect stated that the people on the boat were “determined to reach the United Kingdom”.
The authority said the migrant boat departed yesterday from the Veules-les-Roses area in Normandy, with the French Sea Rescue Society deployed from Dieppe.
The Argonaute and the Minck ships were also sent to monitor the boat’s crossing during the day and night yesterday and today.
Five people needed to be rescued on board the vessel overnight, the prefect stated, and were brought back to the quay in Boulogne-sur-Mer.
The prefect statement reads: “The remaining people on board refused the assistance offered by French resources.
“Determined to reach the United Kingdom, the migrants making the crossing in precarious boats refused assistance offered by French resources and only accepted it in situations of extreme urgency.
“Given the structural fragility of the systematically overcrowded boats, the decision was made not to force the migrants to board state rescue vessels, to avoid endangering their lives in the event of a shipwreck.”