Tag: crossing

Indians second largest group crossing English Channel: Home Office data

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London: The number of Indians illegally crossing over into the UK across the English Channel has increased sharply in the first three months of the year, making them the second biggest cohort after Afghans, according to the latest Home Office statistics.
Between January 1 and March 31, 2023, the most common nationality arriving via small boat was Afghans (909, 24 per cent) followed by Indians (675, 18 per cent), the new data revealed.
A total of 3,793 people were detected arriving in small boats in the same period, a Home Office statement said, adding that the “crossings are generally higher in better weather.”

In 2022, almost half of small boat arrivals were Albanians (28 per cent of the total, although these arrivals occurred mostly between July and September 2022) and Afghans (20 per cent, with their numbers greater towards the end of the year).
The top five nationalities now illegally crossing the Channel in small boats include, Afghanistan, India, Iran, Iraq and Syria.
While the final statistics are due to be published on May 25 this year, a last month Home Office data showed 683 Indians arriving in the country on small boats in 2022, as compared to 67 in 2021.
In February this year, Indians allegedly became the third-largest group of migrants entering UK shores illegally after Afghans and Syrians, The Times report said citing Home Office sources.
The report had said that about 250 Indian migrants made the perilous crossing in small boats this year alone, outnumbering the 233 who arrived via small boats in the first nine months of last year

The Home Office had said a reason for spike in numbers could be Serbia’s visa-free travel rules for Indians.
Until December last year, all Indian passport holders could enter Serbia without a visa for up to 30 days but this arrangement ended on January 1, resulting in some Indians travelling in small boats into the EU and then to the UK, according to Home Office sources.
“We have seen a spike of Indian nationals coming across in small boats over the last few months,” the Home Office source had told The Times.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 7, 2023
Pakistan, Afghan forces exchange fire at major border crossing

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Islamabad: Forces of Pakistan and Afghanistan exchanged fire on the Torkham border leaving a border guard injured.
The Taliban-led government of Afghanistan on Sunday shut the border crossing, accusing Pakistan of reneging on its commitments, Dawn reported.
Irshad Momand, a district administration official in Landi Kotal, told Dawn news that Pakistan responded to “unprovoked” firing from the Afghan side.
People living near the border crossing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa confirmed that a heavy exchange of fire continued for over an hour, Dawn reported.
Momand said the injured Pakistani soldier was being treated at a hospital and his condition was stable.
On Sunday, Afghan authorities accused Islamabad of reneging on its commitments, without giving any further details.
The Afghan Taliban commissioner for Torkham said the border has been closed down for travel and transit trade.
“Pakistan has not abided by its commitments and so the gateway has been shut down on the directions of (our) leadership,” Maulavi Mohammad Siddique said in a tweet.

According to unconfirmed media reports, the Taliban government was irked by an unannounced ban on the travel of Afghan patients seeking treatment in Pakistan, Dawn reported.
However, Momand added that the issue was being discussed at the diplomatic level between Islamabad and Kabul.
He said Pakistan was awaiting a “positive” response from Afghan officials to reopen the border crossing as it was closed from their side.
Due to the precarious situation, the population around the border area has been shifted to Landi Kotal, Jamrud and Peshawar.
As the border crossing remained shut, locals complained of a shortage of essential goods even though markets remained open, Dawn reported.
Jamshed Khan, a local custom clearing agent, told Dawn that trading activities have stopped, leaving at least 300 trucks stranded.
The trucks are loaded with perishable food items which were at risk of being destroyed if the closure persisted, he added.
The daily wagers and porters whose livelihood was linked with the trade held a protest in Landi Kotal on Monday and demanded immediate reopening of the border, Dawn reported.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 21, 2023
At least 39 migrants killed in Panama bus crash after crossing Darién Gap

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At least 39 migrants have been killed in a gruesome bus accident in Panama after trekking for days through the Central American country’s southern jungles on their way to a new life in the US.
The accident took place in the early hours of Wednesday as a convoy of buses traveled from Panama’s border with Colombia towards a migrant reception centre near the town of Gualaca.
“We are in a disaster situation,” Dr Katherine Guerra, the emergency department chief at a hospital in the city of David, told reporters as survivors were rushed there with exposed fractures and severe abdominal injuries.
“There were families, children, newborn babies, elderly women,” one Venezuelan migrant who was at the scene told the newspaper La Estrella de Panamá.
Panama’s president, Nito Cortizo, said government teams were working “arduously” to help survivors and tweeted: “This is deplorable news for Panama and the region.”
Map of the Darién gap
The names and nationalities of those killed were not immediately clear but Gualaca’s mayor, Luis Manuel Etribí Miranda, told reporters he believed most were from Haiti.

Cuba’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, said citizens of his country were also involved and sent his condolences to victims of the “terrible accident”.
Tens of thousands of Haitians have poured through the perilous rainforests of the Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama in recent years as their Caribbean homeland has fallen deeper into humanitarian and political crisis.
Many thousands of Cubans have made the same journey hoping to outrun growing political persecution and economic strife back home.
Nearly 70,000 Venezuelans also travelled through the Darién last year as their country continued to reel from one of the most severe economic collapses outside of a war zone in recent world history. A total of nearly 250,000 people made the journey last year compared with about 133,000 in 2021, according to official statistics.
Panama’s migration chief, Samira Gozaine, told reporters that authorities believed the accident had happened after the bus missed a turn into the migrant centre where it was supposed to leave its 66 passengers. Local reports said the driver lost control of the vehicle after turning back and the bus plunged off an escarpment, leaving dozens of passengers dead.
The Human Rights Watch activist Juan Pappier called the accident a disaster foretold. “When I visited this region, we saw that these buses carried more people than permitted and made long journeys without breaks. There have been similar accidents in the past, with numerous injured,” Pappier tweeted.

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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

February 16, 2023
No traffic/vehicular movement will be allowed on National Highway ( NH44) between Shamsipora Crossing and Bijbehara Crossing fro

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Anantnag, Feb 12: The district administration Anantnag Friday said due to periodic overhaul at Shamsipora Crossing, no vehicular movement will be allowed on the stretch along Srinagar-Jammu highway.
An order issued by Additional Deputy Commissioner Anantnag, a cooy of which lies with the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), reads that due to periodic overhaul at Level Crossing Gate No C2 (Shamsipora Crossing), no vehicular movement will be allowed on NH44 between Shamsipora and Bijbehara crossing between 20:00 on Sunday and 08:00 on Monday.
“In order to carry out some immediate repairs by Railway Authorities on Level Crossing Gate No. C-2 at KM 19/5-6 (Shamsipora Crossing), it is hereby ordered that no traffic/vehicular movement will be allowed on National Highway ( NH44) between Shamsipora Crossing and Bijbehara Crossing from 20:00 hours (Sunday) 12th February 2023 to 08:00 hours (Monday) 13th February 2023,” it said.
The traffic shall be diverted through old National Highway from Hamzapora Crossing to Alstop Crossing and vice-versa during the period, it further reads.

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( With inputs from : roshankashmir.net )

February 12, 2023
Israeli citizen arrested after crossing into Lebanon

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Jerusalem: An Israeli citizen crossed over to Lebanon and was detained by Lebanese security forces, according to a statement by Israel’s Army.
The incident took place on Monday morning, the Army said on Monday, adding that the man was seen crossing the border fence from Israeli territory into Lebanese territory.
As the two countries do not have diplomatic ties and are officially at war, talks for his return “are currently being held through coordination and liaison channels,” the Army said.
Israel’s state-owned Kan TV news identified the man as an Arab citizen of Israel, Xinhua news agency reported.
Lebanese media reported he is currently under questioning.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 31, 2023