"Today, a shipwreck occurred involving a taxi boat off the coast of Wissant," it said in a statement on Monday.
French authorities often call the rubber dinghies that enter shallow waters to pick up migrants “taxi boats.”
At least three people are reported to have died in Monday's accident. An unknown number were rescued and taken to Calais, France.
It is not uncommon for visa-free migrants to try to cross the English Channel in the hope of a better future in the UK. Last week, three bodies were found after a similar accident involving a “taxi boat”.
