LILLE: French security forces rescued almost 400 migrants seeking to take advantage of good weather and make the perilous crossing across the Channel to England in a weekend that also saw several fatalities, authorities in northern France said on Monday.
Crossings have been continuing in good weather conditions despite intense efforts by French and British authorities to stop the flow, including a deal involving sending some migrants who reach England back to France.
Rescue forces were deployed on Saturday and Sunday at some 24 departure points where migrants were seeking to board the boats, the regional maritime prefectures said.
On Saturday, approximately 220 people were rescued notably in Boulogne-sur-Mer, Dieppe, and Calais. Two Somali women, who had suffered cardiac arrest, died despite resuscitation attempts. Five people were slightly injured, and several suffered from hypothermia.
On Sunday, at least 176 migrants were rescued, including several injured. A teenager died after being found unconscious on Ecault beach outside Calais.
Meanwhile the body of a migrant was also recovered Saturday morning in Gravelines east of Calais although prosecutors believe his death could have occurred several days earlier.
This brought the number of deaths during these attempted illegal crossings of the Franco-British border to at least 27 since the beginning of the year, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
But some 32,000 people have managed to make the English coast so far this year, a record, while 895 people arrived on Saturday alone aboard just 12 small boats, according to the British government.
Under a recent Franco-British scheme, the UK can return them after arrival if they are deemed ineligible for asylum, including those who have passed through a “safe country” to reach UK shores.
In return, London will accept an equal number of migrants from France who are likely to have their asylum claims granted.
Earlier this month, four migrants were removed from the UK to France while a family of three were the first migrants to arrive in the UK under the deal after their right to stay was recognized. Critics say, however, that the numbers being affected by the deal is minute compared to the numbers still crossing.
French officials say almost 400 UK bound migrants rescued
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French officials say almost 400 UK bound migrants rescued
- Rescue forces were deployed on Saturday and Sunday at some 24 departure points where migrants were seeking to board the boats, the regional maritime prefectures said
- Under a recent Franco-British scheme, the UK can return them after arrival if they are deemed ineligible for asylum, including those who have passed through a “safe country” to reach UK shores
South Korea will boost medical school admissions to tackle physician shortage
- Jeong said all of the additional students will be trained through regional physician programs
SEOUL: South Korea plans to increase medical school admissions by more than 3,340 students from 2027 to 2031 to address concerns about physician shortages in one of the fastest-aging countries in the world, the government said Tuesday.
The decision was announced months after officials defused a prolonged doctors’ strike by backing away from a more ambitious increase pursued by Seoul’s former conservative government. Even the scaled-down plan drew criticism from the country’s doctors’ lobby, which said the move was “devoid of rational judgment.”
Kwak Soon-hun, a senior Health Ministry official, said that the president of the Korean Medical Association attended the healthcare policy meeting but left early to boycott the vote confirming the size of the admission increases.
The KMA president, Kim Taek-woo, later said the increases would overwhelm medical schools when combined with students returning from strikes or mandatory military service, and warned that the government would be “fully responsible for all confusion that emerges in the medical sector going forward.” The group didn’t immediately signal plans for further walkouts.
Health Minister Jeong Eun Kyeong said the annual medical school admissions cap will increase from the current 3,058 to 3,548 in 2027, with further hikes planned in subsequent years to reach 3,871 by 2031. This represents an average increase of 668 students per year over the five-year period, far smaller than the 2,000-per-year hike initially proposed by the government of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, which sparked the months long strike by thousands of doctors.
Jeong said all of the additional students will be trained through regional physician programs, which aim to increase the number of doctors in small towns and rural areas that have been hit hardest by demographic pressures. The specific admissions quota for each medical school will be finalized in April.
