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French authorities have formally identified 26 of the 27 bodies recovered from last month’s mass drowning tragedy in the Pas De Calais strait towards England.
Sixteen Iraqi Kurds and four Afghans were among the victims, whose families have been informed.
Among them were two friends from the same city, who perished in the worst tragedy of immigrants on this water body.
Their rubber boat sank as they attempted to sail from France to England on 24 November.
The BBC spoke with the families of 18-year-old Rezhwan Hassan and 27-year-old Afrasia Mohammed, both from the Kurdish city of Rania in Iraq.
Their families had not received any news from them since the night of the disaster.
The two friends had paid traffickers thousands of dollars to help them reach Britain.
By the end of October they had flown to Belarus, which has become one of the main migration routes to the EU. They had then crossed the EU border illegally and arrived in France.
“There is no life left to live”
Rezhwan Hassan was a carpenter dreaming of a better life in Britain. His nephew, Dahin Hama, had tried to persuade him not to leave.
“We were like brothers, our friendship was strong,” says Dahin Hama. “He always said he wanted to emigrate from Kurdistan. “He said he could not bear to live here, he said there was no life left to live.”
The last time he heard from Rezhwan was the night before the cruise. Rezhwan told family members that “next time he would contact them from England”.
A few hours later he would lose his life, along with 26 other people.
His friend Afrasia Mohamed was also in the boat.
The latter’s sister Nergiz Ahmed Mohammed, says Afrasia believed that Britain would give her a bright future.
Today, the Kurdish authorities told the family that his body was one of the 27 found, but even before that, the family had been in mourning for weeks.
“What is more important?” Human life or boundaries? Where are the human rights? How can they let people drown and say it’s nothing? ” says the victim’s sister.
Father of the victim Rezhwan Hassan
Maryam Nuri Mohamed Amin, was a 24-year-old Kurdish girl from northern Iraq, and the first person to be confirmed as a victim in late November.
Other names have been reported by local media but remain to be verified.
The French ministry said that among the 16 Kurdish-Iraqi victims were four women aged 22 to 46, a 16-year-old boy, a seven-year-old child and ten men aged 19 to 37.
Another Kurdish victim was from Iran.
Three Ethiopians were identified, including two women aged 22 and 25, as well as a 46-year-old man.
A 33-year-old Somali woman, four Afghan men between the ages of 24 and 40, and a 20-year-old Egyptian man were also identified.
Record numbers of migrants are attempting the dangerous voyage from France to Britain through the Strait.
An estimated 40,000 people have fled the Kurdish regions to Europe this year alone. / BBC / Prepared by: Andi Lamko /
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