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Mohammed Ibrahimzadeh, 21, presents himself as one of the only two survivors of the sinking of the boat which claimed the lives of 27 migrants in the English Channel. He says the victims called the French and British police shortly before the drowning, without any intervention being triggered.
Mohammed Ibrahimzadeh, 21, presents himself as one of the two survivors of the shipwreck that occurred last week in the Channel. The crossing to England left 27 dead. “The water started to enter the boat from the rear, at the level of the engine”, he says. The migrants then find themselves trapped in the open sea. Mohammed says that they then call, using cellphones, for help on both sides of the Channel. “We called the French police to ask them for help, the pump was faulty. We sent them our location, and they said we were in British waters. (…) So we called the English police. , and they said: ‘Call the French police’ “.
The maritime prefecture claims to have been alerted by a fisherman, and then to have triggered the aid, as evidenced by a recording. The authorities confirm that the rescue operation took place in French waters in the middle of the afternoon. The French Navy, which sent a ship there, recalled that borders disappear in the event of a rescue. “The coordination between the French and British rescue centers is total”, assured Éric Lavault, the spokesperson for the French Navy. The investigation opened following the sinking should make it possible to determine the responsibilities, and to know if distress calls were indeed made from the boat.