HUNDREDS of medical students in the Caribbean have set-up base in a Lancashire university after they escaped the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.

Around 650 students, academics and support staff from the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine (AUC) have arrived in Lancashire this week.

The visit will see the AUC use the university’s academic facilities for teaching, and to accommodate students and staff in numerous halls of residence and houses.

It will allow them to continue their program of study at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) after the hurricane damaged Sint Maarten, the Dutch-French island where AUC’s students complete their first two years of pre-clinical medical school.

And the AUC has worked with the university and East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) on the plans to host the school for its autumn semester.

The visiting students will complete their regular curriculum on a modified schedule, which would aim to ensure the existing UCLan students’ timetables are unaffected.

The students will also have access to a range of UCLan facilities including the library and the student services team, and be associate members of the Students’ Union.

Clinical skills training would also take place at associated NHS trust sites in East Lancashire.

UCLan Vice-Chancellor Professor Mike Thomas described what had happened to the island and the whole of the Caribbean as ‘utterly devastating’.

Prof Thomas said: “This situation is our chance to offer help to people whose lives have been turned upside down through a natural disaster.”

Kevin McGee, chief executive at ELHT, said: “We already have a close working relationship with AUC and UCLan, and we’re delighted to be able to build on this to offer support and ensure that the AUC student cohort can complete their studies with the minimum of disruption.”

Rico Barronon, President of the AUC student governors’ association, said: “We are all incredibly grateful to UCLan for welcoming us to Preston. The intention to move an entire medical school across the Atlantic in a matter of weeks shows the resilience of AUC students who have been through a traumatic time."