Family who died on capsized migrant boat paid smugglers £21,600

Four members of a Kurdish-Iranian family who paid people smugglers £21,600 for a new life in Britain drowned while trying to cross the Channel – after a relative ‘begged’ them not to go, it emerged today.

Construction worker Rasoul Iran-Nejad, 35, his wife Shiva Mohammad Panahi, 35, along with Anita, nine, and Armin, six, perished after the crammed makeshift fishing boat they were travelling in capsized in rough conditions, with winds of up to 57mph and five-foot waves.

Their toddler son, Artin, is yet to be found, BBC Persian reported, but French officials have called off searches and said there is no hope of finding any more survivors. Two migrant adults are also reportedly still missing.

Mr Iran-Nejad had sold everything in the hope of achieving a better future for his family, his brother, Khalil Irannazhad, said in a phone call from their home city of Sardasht in western Iran, near the Iraqi border.

He revealed that it was the family’s third attempt at crossing into Britain, following two abortive tries via train.

Tragic final pictures have emerged showing the family in France hours before their fateful journey.

The Iran-Nejads, whose initial destination was due to have been Germany or Switzerland, are thought to have sold all their possessions and borrowed money from relatives to make it to Britain, where they are said to have family.

Mr Irannazhad said he last spoke to his brother on Monday, when he urged him not to attempt the crossing. ‘We begged him to not try to cross by boat but he insisted on going,’ he told the Telegraph.

Four members of a Kurdish-Iranian family drowned while trying to cross the Channel have been named today. Their 15-month-old toddler, Artin, (pictured) is yet to be found

Rasoul Iran-Nejad, 35, with his missing son, Artin, (left) and his wife, Shiva Mohammad Panahi, 35, (right). The family are pictured in a French migrant camp hours before attempting the perilous crossing

The bodies of Armin, six, and Anita, nine, were also recovered from the Channel near Dunkirk by French coastguard

The family had left Iran on August 7 to travel to Turkey, before taking a ferry to Italy and driving to France almost a month ago, according to a friend who remained in Calais. Pictured is the missing toddler, Artin

‘It was the third time that they had attempted to cross to the UK. Two times they wanted to cross via train and the last time they wanted to cross by boat.’

The family had left Iran on August 7 to travel to Turkey, before taking a ferry to Italy and rode in the back of lorries to France almost a month ago, according to a friend who remained in Calais.

In Calais, they were staying in a camp near the town before moving to the Puythouck site, but were evicted by police and moved to a nearby hotel after social services found them a room, ahead of their crossing on Tuesday.

The family’s perilous route from Iran: Smuggled by boat, truck and two failed crossings from France by train – as two migrants remain missing

The Iran-Nejad family left West Azerbaijan Province in Iran on August 7 to travel to Turkey and on to Greece, where they were arrested.

They were deported back to Turkey after they were arrested, strip-searched and tear-gassed by Greek police, Iranian Kurds have revealed.

One migrant who travelled with them from Turkey back to mainland Europe claimed that they had ‘lost all their belongings’ and were given money to ‘buy new clothes’ after their deportation from Greece.

The migrant, who asked not to be identified, said he had taken pity on them when he met them in Turkey. ‘They had lost all their belongings,’ he told The Times. ‘I gave them some money to buy new clothes.’

The Iran-Nejads then sailed across the Aegean Sea a second time, but to Italy where they avoided arrest.

From Italy, the family crossed the border from Italy into France in lorries, stopping in several cities along the way, unnamed migrants said.

One Kurd told The Daily Telegraph: ‘I took pity on them and gave them some money to buy new clothes.’

‘We travelled together from Turkey to Italy by ship. Then we all travelled from Italy to France by truck, stopping in several cities, but were separated and only met back up in this camp.

‘The family were so frustrated by their treatment in Greece and France that they were desperate to get to the UK. They knew it was dangerous but were prepared to take the risk. The mother said my future is lost because my fingerprints were taken in Italy, as were my husband’s, but I hope my children can have a future in Britain.’

According to Mr Iran-Nejad’s brother Khalil Irannazhad, the patriarch had initially decided to stay in Germany or Switzerland before changing his mind and carrying on to France.

Family members claim that the Iran-Nejads then stayed on a camp near Calais before moving to Puythouck, but were evicted by police and moved to a nearby hotel after social services found them a room.

Sources told The Times that Mr Iran-Nejad was leant money to pay smuggling gangs to get them into Britain.

The family made three attempts to cross to the UK. The first two times, they wanted to cross by train, and the last time they wanted to cross by boat.

‘It was the third time that they had attempted to cross to the UK. Two times they wanted to cross via train and the last time they wanted to cross by boat,’ said Khalil.

‘We begged him to not try to cross by boat. He insisted on going.’

They were travelling in an 18-man, 20ft boat packed with as many as 22 passengers that capsized at around 8.30am yesterday off the coast of Loon-Plage near Dunkirk.

The French-flagged Marbuzet, a 40ft-long pleasure craft, was passing by and told the coastguard, which rescued fifteen survivors who had suffered cardiac arrest and hypothermia. That puts the estimated death toll at seven, with three people yet to be found, including the toddler.

Farhad Shekari, 28, a migrant who is also from Sardasht, said he had urged the family not to attempt the crossing. He had been due to travel with them but decided against it after seeing the number of people trying to board the flimsy vessel.

He told the Telegraph: ‘There were 22 people in the boat and I said there are too many people and I didn’t want to go. The family got on anyway. But I persuaded another not to get on board. They got angry with me, but I stopped them from getting on the boat.’

Alain Ledaguenel, the president of the French coastguard (SNCM), said the boat was a death trap, adding: ‘It wasn’t a dingy but a polyester amateur fishing boat. It was overloaded and capsized because it almost certainly hit a wave sideways.’

Kurdish journalist Sarook Sarkda, 37, who is from Iran, said the smugglers who owned the boat were forcing people to get onboard before the fatal crossing.

After the deadliest tragedy of the Channel migrant crisis so far, Boris Johnson vowed to ‘crack down’ on brutal people smugglers who have fueled a surge in crossings.

A Kurdish Iraqi migrant who befriended the family at the makeshift camp where they were staying in Dunkirk said the family wanted to join at least one other relative already in the UK.

He urged them not to attempt the crossing due to the stormy conditions but they went ahead, saying: ‘God is big’.

Choman Manesh told Sky News: ‘It is so sad because I know this family over here that situation happened yesterday.

‘I advised them ‘please don’t go by boat. It’s not good. It’s really bad situation. If you stay in water, it will be bad for you’. They told me ‘God is big’.’

There is confusion about how many people died in the incident, with some sources putting the figure as high as 28 but others saying 22.

The tragedy has prompted fury at vicious smuggling gangs who are blamed for fueling the rise in crossings, with Boris Johnson vowing a ‘crackdown’ after the worst loss of life during migrant crisis so far.

Dover MP Natalie Elphicke tweeted: ‘It is terrible that tragedy has struck in the Channel again. People traffickers have no regard for life, no matter how old or young.’

Meanwhile, Alp Mehmet, from Migration Watch, blamed French officials for not preventing the ‘totally avoidable’ tragedy.

He told Talk Radio: ‘Why didn’t they stop them from sailing in the first place? We are talking about a lot of people in a big boat, someone should have noticed.’

The tragedy will intensify the pressure on the Government to broker a deal with the French to finally stop the crossings.

Mr Johnson said: ‘My thoughts are with the loved ones of those who tragically lost their lives in the Channel today.

Mr Iran-Nejad (left) and his wife, Shiva, (right) with two rescue workers in a French migrant camp. The children are seen from left to right: Artin, Anita and Armin

Their toddler, Artin, is yet to be found, but French coastguard have called off searches and said there is no hope of finding any more survivors

How Iran has a long history of discrimination and repression against its Kurdish minority

The Kurds are an ethnic group native to a semi-autonomous region known as Kurdistan that spans parts of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Armenia – nations where they live as minorities. There are thought to be around 35million of them in total, with up to 12million based in Iran.

Iran has a long history of discrimination and repression against its Kurdish minority. Partly, the discrimination is religious. A majority of Kurds consider themselves to be Sunni Muslims, unlike the majority of Iranians, who are Shia.

While equality of religions is technically guaranteed in Iranian law, in reality Sunni Muslims struggle to establish places of worship and schools for their children.

According to an Amnesty International report in 2008, Iranian Kurds have been subjected to discriminatory hiring policies that make it hard to get jobs, with their home regions under-funded and neglected, leading to ‘entrenched poverty’.

Kordestan, the centre of the Kurdish community in Iran, is one of the country’s poorest provinces with its economy relying mostly on farming and handicrafts.

Kurds have also been subjected to forced evictions and live in largely substandard housing, lacking proper sanitation and water supplies. Some Kurdish housing has not been sufficiently rebuilt since the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, according to UN reports, when the Kurds were targeted by Saddam’s forces.

The town of Sardasht, where the migrant family who drowned hailed from, was among those targeted – struck by poison gas dropped from Iraqi fighter planes. At least 113 people died while thousands more were injured. Kurdish leaders say the victims were never given proper medical care, and some still suffer from debilitating lung conditions.

Kurdish children are often forbidden from speaking their native language in schools, and Iran bans mothers from giving their children certain Kurdish names. Literacy rates are also significantly lower for Kurdish students – particularly women – than in the Iranian population as a whole.

Those who do speak up about the plight of the Kurds face arbitrary arrest, detention, torture, and the death penalty. According to the UN, there were around 1,800 Kurdish political prisoners being held in the country in 2017. Charges against them ranged from eating during Ramadan, to cheering the results of a referendum in neighbouring Iraq.

The same year, 64 Kurdish prisoners were executed – the highest number of any minority group – while at least 16 were subjected to torture, and 31 went on hunger strike to protest their conditions. Those who did go on strike, were routinely denied medical care.

In a major incident in 2005, Iranian security forces shot and killed Kurdish opposition leader Shawan Qaderi and two other men in the city of Mahabad, the capital of the Kurdish region, tied their bodies to a jeep, and hauled them through the town.

‘We have offered the French authorities every support as they investigate this terrible incident and will do all we can to crack down on the ruthless criminal gangs who prey on vulnerable people by facilitating these dangerous journeys.’

Seven migrants have died trying to cross the Channel this year – three more than last year’s toll.

The PM’s words were echoed by Home Secretary Priti Patel, who said: ‘We are in touch with our French counterparts who are leading on the response and have offered whatever support they need as they investigate this incident.

‘This tragic news highlights the dangers that come with crossing the Channel and I will do everything I can to stop callous criminals exploiting vulnerable people.’

Last October Miss Patel pledged that illegal Channel crossings would be an ‘infrequent phenomenon’ within six months.

But at least 7,500 migrants are known to have crossed to England by small boat so far this year – more than four times the total for the whole of 2019.

Miss Patel has been negotiating with the French government to step up patrols on their coastline but no deal has yet been reached.

She wants Paris to agree to migrant boats being turned around in the Channel and sent back to France.

Marlene Schiappa, deputy French interior minister, tweeted that the death toll from yesterday’s incident ‘is heavy and still uncertain’.

The migrants made a Mayday call in which they begged, ‘Help us, we’re sinking’, according to The Sun.

However, it is not clear who received the call, as the French coastguard said they were informed of the incident by the a passing pleasure boat, the Marbuzet.

Retired coastguard officer Andy Roberts said yesterday’s horrific incident was predictable.

‘It’s absolutely tragic,’ he added. ‘Something like this was always eventually going to happen and sadly it now has.

‘There is no way that boat was ever going to successfully cross the Dover strait.’

His words were echoed by Home Office Clandestine Channel Threat Commander Dan O’Mahoney, who said he was ‘deeply saddened’ to hear of the deaths and added there was ‘no way’ the boat was going to get across the Dover Strait.

He said the weather was ‘appalling’ at the time, with wind speeds of 42 knots (around 47mph).

Last night sources told The Sun: ‘The boat had not left French waters but the conditions were pretty tough.

‘The radio message came in at about the same time a yachtsman had reported seeing the vessel in difficulties.

‘It was incredibly fortunate the alarm was raised quickly enough for a rescue operation to be mounted.’

The migrant boat was spotted by Marbuzet, a pleasure boat. This graphic – based data from shipping tracker Marine Traffic – shows the Marbuzet’s course yesterday morning

After the deadliest tragedy of the Channel migrant crisis so far, Boris Johnson vowed to ‘crack down’ on brutal people smugglers who have fueled a surge in crossings. Pictured are emergency services at Dunkirk harbour yesterday

A French rescue helicopter lands at Dunkirk port yesterday during the operation to rescue the stricken migrants

The weather was ‘appalling’ at the time the boat sank, with wind speeds of 42 knots (around 47mph). Pictured are police in Dunkirk yesterday

How vicious traffickers make thousands smuggling desperate migrants into Britain

Illegal cross-Channel migration is being fueled by a global network of people smugglers making thousands from their evil trade.

Research has revealed how these smugglers operate, and the false promises they use to convince people to make the dangerous trip to the UK.

Agents of the smugglers drum up business by visiting impoverished families in Iraq, Iran, Africa and Pakistan, often with exaggerated tales of British largesse.

Potential migrants have to raise money for a fee, or agree to pay one later, with much of the sum – which can be up to £10,000 – usually donated by family members and non-payment punished with threats and violence.

Migrants from the Middle East often first step foot in Europe in Greece after making a dangerous journey across the Mediterranean. They then travel more than a thousand miles – often in the back of a lorry – to Calais, where they set up camp.

Smugglers usually bring migrants to Calais in batches, with a new group arriving after the previous one has already left in boats across the Channel.

A people smuggler named Farooq revealed how the next stage of the process worked in an interview secretly recorded by LBC.

He revealed that migrants would be told to sleep rough around Calais while he bought a boat for them to travel in.

The migrants would then be put into the boat, pointed in the direction of Britain, and told not to stop until they reached UK waters, where they would be rescued.

There have also been reports of people traffickers hiring French fishing boat crews to carry desperate migrants halfway across the Channel in a bid to evade eye-in-the-sky military drones.

When migrants are picked up by the UK Coastguard they are taken to a migrant detention centre to be processed.

Of the 1,890 foreigners who reached British shores in small boats last year, only about 125 were returned European countries, with most of the rest having credible claims for asylum, according to the Home Office.

Asylum seekers are housed in accommodation centres for the first few weeks after arriving before being moved elsewhere, including into hotels and bed and breakfasts.

During this period they are not allowed to work and sometimes fall into menial jobs in the black economy, such as cleaning or washing dishes. They also face being exploited by criminal gangs, and may feel uncomfortable cooperating with the police due to their immigration status, according to a Met Police report.

If they are successful they will be allowed to take a job. However, despite the false claims of people smugglers, many of these jobs are low paid, with migrants often held back by low skills or a lack of English.

Additional reporting by Sue Reid for the Daily Mail

French citizenship minister Marlene Schiappa tweeted her ‘great sadness’ and said the overall toll was ‘serious and still uncertain’.

Herve Tourmente, an official with the Nord department, said stormy conditions had made the attempted crossing from Loon-Plage, near Dunkirk, especially perilous yesterday.

‘This is the heaviest toll we’ve ever had in the North,’ he said. It seems one person, who might be an infant, is still missing.’

The Dunkirk prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into the incident.

Those responsible could face a variety of charges including manslaughter and operating within a criminal gang to exploit the victims.

Public prosecutor Sebastien Pive said six migrants were taken into custody for interview.

A spokesman for the charity Save the Children said: ‘The English Channel must not become a graveyard for children.

‘The British and French governments must work together to expand safe and legal routes for desperate families fleeing conflict, persecution, and poverty.

‘Parents shouldn’t be compelled to risk their children’s lives in search of safety. No child should have to make a dangerous, potentially fatal, journey in search of a better life.’

Clare Moseley, founder of aid charity Care4Calais, said: ‘It is cruel and horrifying that this time young children are among the victims.

‘This unnecessary loss of life has to stop. Refugees feel pushed to take these risks because of the policies of the French and British governments. This loss of life should be a wake-up call.’

Former child refugee Lord Alf Dubs, who was part of the Kindertransport which rescued children from the Nazis, said the loss of life was ‘heartbreaking’.

The Labour peer wrote on Twitter: ‘Today’s tragic loss of life in the Channel, involving children, is heartbreaking.

‘These deaths are a result of the increasing desperation of refugees as their legal routes to safety close.

‘Without legal routes their journeys are dangerous and traffickers are the only winners.

Folkestone MP Damian Collins said boats had to be intercepted before they got to the UK side of the Channel.

He added: ‘We must stop people traffickers from profiting while putting lives in danger.’

Yvette Cooper, chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, said: ‘It is heartbreaking that young children should be involved in this tragedy.

‘These boats are so dangerous. The gangs who organise them profit from other people’s desperation.’

The latest tragedy in the Channel comes after a migrant drowned while attempting to make the crossing on Sunday, October 18.

Sudanese national Abdulfatah Hamdallah (left), 28, drowned in August while trying to make the crossing in a 3ft dinghy. Iranian Mitra Mehrad, 31, drowned in the same month after falling overboard while saving a baby’s life, according to a friend

This photo of a ferry entering Dover on Tuesday demonstrates the stormy weather at the time of yesterday’s incident

Police stand next to migrants at the Puythouck camp in northern France in September 2017, where the Iran-Nejads were thought to have been staying

Tragedy of growing migrant death toll as charity warns Channel must not ‘become a graveyard for children’

Yesterday’s tragedy follows the deaths of 10 migrants in the Channel over the last two years.

Although many of the victims have not been identified, the names of some have been made public.

Sudanese national Abdulfatah Hamdallah, 28, drowned while trying to make the crossing in August in a 3ft dinghy.

Two people also died last year.

Iranian Mitra Mehrad, 31, drowned after falling overboard while saving a baby’s life, according to a friend.

She was travelling on a small dinghy carrying 19 other migrants – including a child and a baby – when she went missing in horrendous conditions on August 9.

A huge air search and rescue operation was launched by British authorities after three people went overboard wearing life jackets off the Kent coast.

Ms Mehrad had jumped into the water in a bid to reach a rescue rope from another boat as the one they were travelling on began to sink.

The police and fire brigade were called to the beach at Sangatte near Calais at around 8am after his body was spotted in an orange life jacket.

Despite an autopsy last week confirming he died of accidental drowning while trying to reach the UK from France, his identity has not yet been revealed.

He is being referred to as ‘BB’ within migrant aid groups until his next of kin have been informed.

The man, who is understood to be aged in his 20s and was discovered by horrified rescue workers near the town hall, was identified by a friend to the medical examiner’s office.

Both police and the coroner are satisfied he was Iranian despite being found with no documents with him.

Humanitarian organisation Seeking Sanctuary paid their respects on Saturday by laying flowers at a plaque in Dover, Kent dedicated to all migrants who have died.

An autopsy last Tuesday found the latest migrant to have lost their life while attempting the crossing died of accidental drowning.

French news website France Bleu said rescuers found 50 Euros on the body of the man.

It is believed he died within hours of trying to make the treacherous 21 mile crossing of the Dover Strait.

A post mortem will be held in due course while an investigation is underway into the death.

The victim was the second to die this year making the treacherous crossing.

Iranian Mitra Mehrad, 31, drowned after falling overboard while saving a baby’s life, according to a friend.

She was travelling on a small dinghy carrying 19 other migrants – including a child and a baby – when she went missing in horrendous conditions on August 9.

A huge air search and rescue operation was launched by British authorities after three people went overboard wearing life jackets off the Kent coast.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK had offered ‘every support’ to French authorities as they investigate the ‘terrible incident’

Home Secretary Priti Patel said in a statement posted on Twitter yesterday that she was ‘truly saddened to learn of the tragic loss of life in French waters this morning’

Former child refugee Lord Alf Dubs, who was part of the Kindertransport which rescued children from the Nazis, said the loss of life was ‘heartbreaking’

France ‘turned away oil tanker hijackers’

France refused to take seven stowaways from an oil tanker that was later hijacked off the Isle of Wight, it was claimed last night.

The Nave Andromeda, which was stormed by special forces on Sunday, is said to have asked French port authorities if they could take the men five days earlier.

The claim was made by the shipping journal Lloyd’s List.

Richard Meade, its editor, said: ‘The stowaways were discovered… and the standard protocol is to inform the nearest coastal state, which it appears was France – but they refused to accept them.’

Ms Mehrad had jumped into the water in a bid to reach a rescue rope from another boat as the one they were travelling on began to sink.

The other two were quickly recovered, but Ms Mehrad could not be tracked.

Her body was found on Dutch waters on August 18, and she is believed to be the first person to have died while making the perilous crossing.

An Iraqi man also drowned after attempting to swim over using plastic bottles as a life jacket and wearing diver fins.

Two people also died last year.

A total of 7,565 migrants have now attempted to make the perilous crossing across the English channel this year compared to just 1,850 in 2019.

In September alone 1,954 made the crossing in small boats.

So far this month, 436 migrants have been detained.

High of 7,565 Channel crossings so far this year

There have been some 7,565 Channel crossings this year alone which have forced the Government to use former barracks as migrant camps.

Just 1,850 migrants tried to make the crossing in 2019.

A record-breaking 409 migrants made it across the Channel on September 2.

And the figure includes a single-month record of 1,954 in September.

So far this month, 436 migrants have been detained.

Conservative Lee Anderson (Ashfield) told the Prime Minister the asylum system is ‘broken and being abused’, to which Mr Johnson replied in the Commons: ‘I have a great deal of sympathy with those who are so desperate as to put their children in dinghies or even children’s paddling pools and try to cross the Channel.

‘But I have to say what they’re doing is falling prey to criminal gangs and they are breaking the law. They’re also undermining the legitimate claims of others who would seek asylum in this country.

‘That is why we will take advantage of leaving the EU by changing the Dublin regulations on returns and we will address the rigidities in our laws that makes this country, I’m afraid, a target and a magnet for those who would exploit vulnerable people in this way.’

The massive rise comes despite a vow from Home Secretary Priti Patel last autumn to have made the crossings an ‘infrequent phenomenon’ by this point.

The Home Office has sought to blame French authorities and ‘activist lawyers’ for the increase and for difficulties removing asylum seekers once they arrive in Britain.

The previous monthly record for migrant arrivals was 1,075, set in July. August’s arrivals saw 235 reach Britain on just one day – which was also a record.

Miss Patel is seeking a deal with French authorities that would allow migrant boats to be turned back in the Channel. No agreement has yet been reached.

At the beginning of September, the Mail revealed the taxpayer was hit with a £1billion bill for the asylum system last year.

An Iraqi man also drowned after attempting to swim over using plastic bottles as a life jacket and wearing diver fins.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk