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Four Iranians who died trying to cross the English Channel on Tuesday morning were members of a family from the northwestern city of Sardasht, The Guardian learned.
Rasul Iran Nezhad and his wife, Shiva Mohammad Panahi, both 35, and two of their children, Anita, 9, and Armin, 6, drowned while trying to reach Britain by boat, according to a family relative. and the Iranian. Kurdish Human Rights Organization Hengaw.
The fate of the family’s third child, Artin, 15 months old, is unknown, although French authorities have said a baby may also have died when the ship sank.
Speaking from Sardasht, Iran Nezhad’s brother Khalil said he had last heard from the family two days ago. He said they had crossed from Iran to Turkey during the summer before passing through Europe to France.
A representative for Hengaw said the family had tried to enter the UK by train twice but failed both times, so they decided to pay a smuggler to take them by sea.
Iran Nezhad was a poorly paid worker while his wife was unemployed, and they sought to leave to escape economic hardship, Khalil Iran Nezhad said.
French officials said Tuesday that a man had drowned when the overloaded boat sank and three others died after being pulled out of the water. Another 15 survived, although Hengaw said there were a total of 28 people on the ship, suggesting that more people may be missing. The survivors are said to have included Iranian and Iraqi nationals.
The deaths have reignited the debate over UK asylum policy and prompted new calls from humanitarian organizations for “safe and legal” routes to the UK for asylum seekers.
More than 7,400 people have arrived in the UK in small boats this year, according to PA Media’s analysis, almost four times more than in 2019, with a record 416 arrivals in a single day, on 2 September. Seven migrants have died trying to cross the English Channel this year, three more than the total death toll from crossings last year.
Groups such as Safe Passage, Amnesty and Choose Love / Help Refugees have warned that the UK government’s hard-line approach, which focuses primarily on physically obstructing crossings, will not deter migrants from undertaking the dangerous journey.
Safe alternatives, such as cross-border family reunion arrangements, are the best way to reduce the number of crossing attempts, the groups have said, though as recently as last week the UK government rejected amendments to its draft law. immigration that would have secured rights under the family reunification law continued after the Brexit transition period.
