FRANCE - A Somali migrant who survived the boat disaster in the English Channel on Wednesday told Rudaw on Monday that most of the people on board were Kurds, adding that only he and an Iraqi man survived.
Rudaw spoke to the survivor, who introduced himself as Mohammed Issa Omar from Somalia, on Monday, as he shared his experience of the deadly incident, confirming that only he and another man from Iraq survived after their boat capsized in the English Channel.
“Most of them [the others on the boat] were Kurds. Four to five were from Ethiopia, and two were from Egypt,” the migrant said on the condition that his face was not shown. Earlier reports also suggested that most of the dead originated from the Kurdistan Region, and this is the second time a survivor of the incident has confirmed the situation.
Mohammed Khaled, the only known Kurdish survivor of the drowning, told Rudaw on Sunday that Kurds from the Kurdistan Region made up the majority of those on board, who had been attempting to reach the United Kingdom.
Omar, who confirmed to Rudaw that the other survivor’s name was also Mohammad, and who is now partially paralysed due to injuries he sustained while swimming, recounted his journey from France to the Channel and how he survived.
“We went from Dunkirk and walked for three hours. Then, we arrived at the Channel [beach] and four people were waiting for us in a boat. They were preparing the motor. The boat began to move,” he said.
“The incident took place three hours after we left [the land at 10pm]. The boat began to capsize and water gradually entered [the boat]. After half an hour, it [the boat] broke and was filled with water. The boat and everyone in it drowned,” he recounted, adding that people were screaming for help.
“We crossed to the British side of the Channel. Then we called them [UK coastguard] and they asked us to send them the location. We did not receive an answer and the boat did not give us an opportunity and we all fell on the British side of the sea,” continued the migrant. “No one came. The boat was capsizing and people were dying. I swam for ten hours in the sea.”
There was an English-speaking person on the boat who called the British and French coastguard several times - mostly the British one, but “they did not answer us,” according to the Somali migrant.
“We had jackets which included cell phones. We called France and Britain several times, but we mostly called Britain. ‘Help us! Help us!’ we said. They said ‘Send us the location.’ But we did not have the chance [to send the coordinates] and all cell phones fell into the water,” Mohammed said.
After swimming for hours, a French fishing vessel found the two survivors around 12 hours after their boat capsized, informing the French coastguard which brought the pair to hospital in France.
At the hospital, he found out that another person had survived. “I think his name was Mohammed.”
“I saw him after we drowned and after being tired of the swimming we saw ourselves in the hospital. He was among the survivors. 31 people died,” he added.
Asked where he wants to go now after the incident, Omar replied, “By God, I do not have any idea. It is as if I am reborn and in a new world. My brain does not work, my mind is tired and I am in pain.”
He said he will not risk his life again.
The Kurdish migrant who survived the incident also told Rudaw that the British coastguard ignored their calls for help but the Home Office, speaking to Rudaw on behalf of the British government, disputed this account, with Patrick Dinham, a senior communication officer, saying the incident happened in French territorial waters. The allegations are “completely untrue,” he wrote on Monday.
France’s interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, told BFM TV on Monday that “People who want to seek asylum in England have no other means than to cross the Channel. This is because there is no legal way for immigrants to go to Great Britain and because you can work without identity papers in England and that creates a demand.”
He added that France accepted 150,000 asylum applications a year, compared with 30,000 in the UK.
Additional reporting by Karwan Faidhi Dri
