[ad_1]
An Iranian man has been arrested on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter following the death of four people and the disappearance of three others believed to have died while attempting to cross the English Channel.
Iranian Kurds Rasul Iran Nezhad and his wife, Shiva Mohammad Panahi, both 35, and two of their children, Anita, 9, and Armin, 6, drowned on Tuesday while trying to reach Britain by boat after leave near Dunkirk.
The family’s third child, Artin, 15 months old, and two other adults are being treated as missing and presumed dead by authorities.
The suspect was reportedly piloting the semi-rigid boat that capsized and was carrying 22 people from the Grande-Synthe migrant camp near Dunkirk, according to reports. The weather and sea conditions at the time were “extremely unfavorable,” according to the Coast Guard, and the ship was carrying too many people.
Dunkirk prosecutor Sébastien Piève said the suspect was arrested after statements by those who were rescued when the ship capsized.
“He told us he was just a migrant, but the information we have collected against him, particularly from 13 other people who were interviewed, suggests that he is close to the traffickers and his claims do not hold up,” Piève told reporters.
The man has been “my in exam“- officially put under investigation, close to being charged under French law – for involuntary manslaughter, endangering the lives of others and helping” illegals “as part of an organized gang, as well as criminal association.
He has been taken into provisional custody. If convicted, he faces 10 years in prison and deportation from France after serving his sentence.
The investigation is in charge of an investigating judge. Piève said the goal of the police investigations was to dismantle the smuggling ring.
In the UK, the deaths have led to renewed calls for the government to abandon its hard-line approach towards asylum seekers and expand or create safe and legal routes for people fleeing torture and death to travel to the UK. United and apply for asylum.
