(Qadrawa) The last time Mohamed spoke to his father, who remained in Iraqi Kurdistan, it was to tell him that he was going to cross the Channel. In the meantime, the sinking of a boat has left 27 dead and the patriarch now fears the worst.
“He told us he was going to go to Britain. He sent us a message on Messenger, ”recounts Qader Abdallah in his living room in Qadrawa, a small village in Kurdistan, in northern Iraq.
“We told him it was dangerous, that there were risks with this crossing. He wanted to reassure us by telling us that many passages have taken place through this sea and that there were no problems, ”adds the 49-year-old man.
It was November 23. The next day, France announced the sinking of a boat in the Channel that killed at least 27 people.
Since then, in Qadrawa, several families have not heard from any missing sons. Were they on board this fatal craft? Have they arrived in Britain? Difficult to know for the moment, the investigation having not yet revealed anything on the identity of the victims, their nationality or on the causes of the sinking.
A month ago, Mohamed, 20, flew to Turkey from Erbil airport. He clandestinely rallied Italy, then France. He wanted to join his two brothers, who had been living in Great Britain for two years.
“Our family had agreed that he would go to Europe,” admits Mr. Abdallah.
“Better future”
“All the young people are trying to go to Europe to find a better future”, “the living conditions are difficult” in Kurdistan, he explains. “The young people demonstrated because of the deterioration of the economic situation which prevents them from finding a job. ”
Wednesday’s tragedy is the worst migratory drama in the Channel, crisscrossed daily by migrants trying to reach the English coasts aboard fragile boats.
These crossings have developed since 2018 in the face of the closure of the port of Calais, in northern France, and Eurotunnel, which migrants took while hiding in vehicles.
Abu Zaniar has also lost track of his 20-year-old son: “on November 23 we spoke, but since then no information on his fate,” he laments.
A month ago, the young man left by plane for Turkey, from where he was able to go clandestinely to Italy, then to France.
“We agreed with a smuggler to take him to Great Britain in exchange for $ 3,300 (around € 2,900). “
He tries to reach the smuggler by phone, to no avail. The line is closed. He then calls relatives of this individual to complain: “that was not our agreement, he had promised us to bring Zaniar safe and sound to England”.
“If my son survived this time, I will send him back to Europe,” however persists Abou Zaniar. “There is no possible life in the Kurdistan region, graduates cannot find work. ”
Two years ago, Zaniar had already tried to reach Western Europe through Bulgaria, where he was arrested, mistreated in prison, then deported to his country.
According to the rescuers, the castaways of the Channel were piling up aboard an inflatable boat with a flexible bottom of about ten meters. Only an Iraqi and a Somali were saved.
Is the Iraqi Mohamed Khaled? His mother Cheleir Ahmed thinks so, after receiving a phone call from her son.
The 22-year-old went to Belarus two months ago, before reaching France thanks to smugglers. “His state of health is very bad because he was in the water for a long time. He informed me that he and an African migrant had survived. ”
On board the boat, she said, 32 people, young people and families, all of whom were said to have drowned.