Migrant family died in channel sinking
TRAGEDY: Four members of a Kurdish- Iranian family died when their migrant boat sank, and their young boy is yet to be found, according to reports.
They have been named as Rasoul Iran- Nejad, 35, Shiva Mohammad Panahi, 35, Anita, nine, and Armin, six. Their 15- month- old son is believed to be still missing.
FOUR MEMBERS of a KurdishIranian family died when their migrant boat sank, and their young boy is yet to be found, according to reports.
They have been named as Rasoul Iran- Nejad, 35, Shiva Mohammad Panahi, 35, Anita, nine, and Armin, six.
Their 15- month- old son, identified by the BBC as Artin, is believed to be still missing. It comes as French rescuers said there was no hope of finding any more survivors from the boat which capsized in the English Channel on Tuesday.
Search and rescue boats and military resources desperately scoured the sea off the French coast for hours, looking for any survivors.
But nightfall brought a halt to the rescue operation, and searches did not resume yesterday.
French authorities had said that the children who died were aged five and eight.
Following news of the deaths, Sonya Sceats, chief executive of Freedom from Torture, said: “The deaths of these men, women and children are shocking.
“But sadly, it comes as no surprise to those of us who work with people fleeing torture and persecution. We have repeatedly called for safe and legal routes for people to access asylum in the UK and prevent these senseless tragedies.
“Instead, Home Secretary Priti Patel has spent the summer whipping up hysteria about the Channel and painting these vulnerable people as invading foreigners, for political ends.”
The family are believed to have attempted to move from France to the UK on a train twice, but somehow both of the attempts had failed.
They then decided to reach the UK by sea, it is understood.
The boat they embarked to cross the sea into the UK had a capacity of 18 passengers. However, it was overloaded with as many as 28 people.
Earlier, French rescuers said there was no hope of finding any more survivors from the capsized boat.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said she was “truly saddened” to learn of the “tragic loss of life”.
Labour MP Yvette Cooper, who chairs the Home Affairs Committee,
and who is a Yorkshire MP, said there had been fears “we would see a tragedy like this for a long time”.
She said: “This is an awful tragedy. For anyone to lose their lives in the cold sea like this is terrible, and when young children are involved it just makes it even more distressing.
“We have feared that we would see a tragedy like this for a long time because the boats are incredibly dangerous, the journey is perilous and we’ve seen an increase in the number of these small boat crossings, these really flimsy boats.”
She added: “I don’t think they ( Home Office) do have a clear enough analysis of the reasons why people are making this journey.”
She said there needed to be support for migrants to avoid them being controlled by traffickers.
On why people were travelling, she added: “One of those issues is about joining family. At the moment, the Government has measures as part of the Dublin Agreement that can help reunite families in a safe and legal way to prevent them getting sucked into the arms of traffickers and also to have safe returns of people who may have claimed asylum in other European countries.”
Nearly 7,500 people have crossed to the UK on small boats this year.
We have feared that we would see a tragedy like this for a long time. Labour MP Yvette Cooper, who chairs the Home Affairs Committee.