LONDON: Almost 700 migrants and asylum seekers crossed the Channel to Britain in a single day this week, a new record for the year, the UK government said Tuesday.
The latest arrivals suggest the government’s controversial policy to deport those attempting the dangerous crossing to Rwanda has so far failed to deter them.
The defense ministry said 696 migrants arrived on 14 small boats on Monday, the highest daily tally in 2022 and only the second time this year it has topped 600.
Large groups of people, including young children, were reportedly brought ashore at Ramsgate, on the Kent coast in southeast England, before being taken by bus to processing centers.
More than 17,000 people have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel — one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes — in small boats so far in 2022, according to government figures.
More than 28,500 — most of them young men — arrived on British shores last year. The all-time daily record of 853 was set in November 2021.
The number of crossing fluctuates through the year, depending on weather conditions and enforcement action along the northern French coastline.
In a bid to deter the arrivals, Britain earlier this year unveiled a new policy to send those crossing for processing and permanent resettlement in Rwanda.
However, the first flight due to take off in mid-June was grounded due to legal challenges, and the policy remains stalled.
Britain has been sending France tens of millions of euros annually to help stop the boat crossings, including for extra beach patrols and equipment such as night-vision goggles.
The Times reported this week that interior minister Priti Patel is set to announce the latest financial deal with Paris, despite questions over the arrangement’s value for money.
It has drawn consistent criticism from some ruling Conservative MPs, with one senior lawmaker telling the newspaper that Patel was “throwing more good money after bad.”
Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, the two Conservative rivals bidding to succeed Prime Minister Boris Johnson, have both vowed to maintain the Rwanda policy.
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Nearly 700 migrants crossed Channel on Monday in 2022 record: UK
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Nearly 700 migrants crossed Channel on Monday in 2022 record: UK
- The defence ministry said 696 migrants arrived on 14 small boats on Monday, the highest daily tally in 2022
- Large groups of people, including young children, were reportedly brought ashore at Ramsgate
Colombia plane crash kills 15 people, including congressman
- Diogenes Quintero was a renowned human rights defender in the troubled border region with Venezuela
- The aircraft’s final contact with air traffic control came minutes after takeoff, state-owned airline says
BOGOTA: A small plane crashed Wednesday in a rural area of Norte de Santander province in northeast Colombia, killing all 15 people on board including a member of congress, authorities said.
Satena, the state-owned airline that operated the flight, said local officials in the community of Curasica notified authorities about where the plane had gone down and a rescue team was deployed to “assess the condition of the passengers.”
Colombia’s Transportation Ministry later released a statement saying that “once the aircraft was located on site, authorities regrettably confirmed that there were no survivors.”
The aircraft, which has a registration number of HK4709, took off at 11:42 a.m. local time from the airport in Cucuta, the department’s capital, bound for Ocana, a municipality surrounded by mountains, on a flight that typically lasts about 40 minutes.
The aircraft’s final contact with air traffic control came minutes after takeoff, according to a statement released by Satena.
Officials did not provide a cause for the crash, but said there would be an investigation.
The small plane was carrying two crew members and 13 passengers, including Diogenes Quintero, 36, a member of the House of Representatives for Catatumbo, the airline said. Carlos Salcedo, a social leader who was running for Congress, was also among the victims.
Quintero was a renowned human rights defender in the troubled border region with Venezuela, where he was from and where the accident occurred.
A lawyer by profession, he was elected in 2022 as one of 16 representatives in the lower chamber to represent the more than 9 million victims of Colombia’s decades-long armed conflict. The seats were created as part of a landmark 2016 peace agreement between the Colombian government and the country’s largest guerrilla group known as the FARC.
His party, the U Party, expressed their remorse for his death and said he was “a leader committed to his region, with a firm vocation for service.”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said via social media: “I am deeply saddened by these deaths. My heartfelt condolences to their families. May they rest in peace.”
Satena, the state-owned airline that operated the flight, said local officials in the community of Curasica notified authorities about where the plane had gone down and a rescue team was deployed to “assess the condition of the passengers.”
Colombia’s Transportation Ministry later released a statement saying that “once the aircraft was located on site, authorities regrettably confirmed that there were no survivors.”
The aircraft, which has a registration number of HK4709, took off at 11:42 a.m. local time from the airport in Cucuta, the department’s capital, bound for Ocana, a municipality surrounded by mountains, on a flight that typically lasts about 40 minutes.
The aircraft’s final contact with air traffic control came minutes after takeoff, according to a statement released by Satena.
Officials did not provide a cause for the crash, but said there would be an investigation.
The small plane was carrying two crew members and 13 passengers, including Diogenes Quintero, 36, a member of the House of Representatives for Catatumbo, the airline said. Carlos Salcedo, a social leader who was running for Congress, was also among the victims.
Quintero was a renowned human rights defender in the troubled border region with Venezuela, where he was from and where the accident occurred.
A lawyer by profession, he was elected in 2022 as one of 16 representatives in the lower chamber to represent the more than 9 million victims of Colombia’s decades-long armed conflict. The seats were created as part of a landmark 2016 peace agreement between the Colombian government and the country’s largest guerrilla group known as the FARC.
His party, the U Party, expressed their remorse for his death and said he was “a leader committed to his region, with a firm vocation for service.”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said via social media: “I am deeply saddened by these deaths. My heartfelt condolences to their families. May they rest in peace.”
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