Coast services save Afghan youth on a raft

French coast rescuers said they had saved a 23-year-old Afghan trying to cross the Channel on a makeshift raft Monday using a bedsheet as a sail.

The youth, who had fashioned the raft with strips of wood and canvas, with a table leg serving as a mast, was rescued off Sangatte near Calais, an official said.The man, who had started developing hypothermia, "was first disappointed and then glad at being rescued," said Bernard Barron, the head of the coast rescue service in Calais.

"It's very rare that rescuers intervene at sea to pick up migrants," he said, as human traffickers did not normally allow people to travel alone.

"Because of the strong currents and winds, it would have been impossible for him to cross" to Britain,
Val says Imagine how desperate you must be for a new safe life to try this stunt.  I feel so
sorry for him and hope he is not just sent back. Story from The Local
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