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Drawing of Sirwan Abubakir in his private room (left) and his mother. Photo: screengrab/Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The mourning mother of one of the Kurdish migrants believed to have drowned in the English Channel on November 24 has made an emotional appeal to the British and French authorities on Wednesday to return the body of her son to the family in northwest Iran.
“We hope his dead body is returned and given to us. We are grateful for God’s will. We are powerless and cannot do anything,” Tuba Azerish, mother of 23-year-old Sirwan Abubakir, told Rudaw.
Sirwan, from Sardasht city in northwest Iran, was one of the 34 migrant on the dinghy which capsized in the English Channel on November 24. They were trying to cross the busy waterway to arrive in the UK to claim asylum. The French authorities which led the rescue operation backed by the UK, more than ten hours after the migrants called for help from both sides, have recovered 27 corpses. Two men; one Kurdish and another Somalian have survived.
Although Sirwan’s family have not received any official confirmation about the fate of their son, they are confident he is among the dead. Rudaw’s interviews with two of the known survivors of the disaster have left no hope for the family who are now just waiting for the body of their son to be returned.
French authorities have not revealed the identities of any of the migrants so far but they are trying to do so.
Sirwan had left Iran sometime in September, spending five days in a boat traveling from Turkey to Italy. He was in Calais for around one and a half months before boarding the dinghy on November 23 night. The young man spent $13,500 to travel from Iran to Calais and paid a smuggler $3,500 to cross the Channel, according to his father, Abubakir Alipur.
RELATED: Families cling to final messages from those feared drowned in English Channel
The father told Rudaw on Wednesday that he did not want his son to migrate.
“I did not want him to leave. He informed us via phone that he was in Turkey three to four days after he left. I did not know he was leaving until he did so,” Abubakir, also locally known as Wasta Bakir, told Rudaw.
“I am leaving,” Sirwan told his father via the mobile of one of his friends hours before the disaster.
“He said, ‘If I call you, it means we have returned [to France]. If not, we have crossed [the English Channel].’ He was online at 6:45 am but after that he went offline. I thought they had crossed. Neither France nor the UK went to their aid,” said his father.
The family have not heard from Sirwan since then. His private room is untouched, including the clothes he hung on the back of his room’s door to be worn later. The family have also asked Iranian authorities to return the body of Sirwan and local officials have promised to work with the country’s foreign ministry to do so.
“We hope his dead body is returned and given to us. We are grateful for God’s will. We are powerless and cannot do anything,” Tuba Azerish, mother of 23-year-old Sirwan Abubakir, told Rudaw.
Sirwan, from Sardasht city in northwest Iran, was one of the 34 migrant on the dinghy which capsized in the English Channel on November 24. They were trying to cross the busy waterway to arrive in the UK to claim asylum. The French authorities which led the rescue operation backed by the UK, more than ten hours after the migrants called for help from both sides, have recovered 27 corpses. Two men; one Kurdish and another Somalian have survived.
Although Sirwan’s family have not received any official confirmation about the fate of their son, they are confident he is among the dead. Rudaw’s interviews with two of the known survivors of the disaster have left no hope for the family who are now just waiting for the body of their son to be returned.
French authorities have not revealed the identities of any of the migrants so far but they are trying to do so.
Sirwan had left Iran sometime in September, spending five days in a boat traveling from Turkey to Italy. He was in Calais for around one and a half months before boarding the dinghy on November 23 night. The young man spent $13,500 to travel from Iran to Calais and paid a smuggler $3,500 to cross the Channel, according to his father, Abubakir Alipur.
RELATED: Families cling to final messages from those feared drowned in English Channel
The father told Rudaw on Wednesday that he did not want his son to migrate.
“I did not want him to leave. He informed us via phone that he was in Turkey three to four days after he left. I did not know he was leaving until he did so,” Abubakir, also locally known as Wasta Bakir, told Rudaw.
“I am leaving,” Sirwan told his father via the mobile of one of his friends hours before the disaster.
“He said, ‘If I call you, it means we have returned [to France]. If not, we have crossed [the English Channel].’ He was online at 6:45 am but after that he went offline. I thought they had crossed. Neither France nor the UK went to their aid,” said his father.
The family have not heard from Sirwan since then. His private room is untouched, including the clothes he hung on the back of his room’s door to be worn later. The family have also asked Iranian authorities to return the body of Sirwan and local officials have promised to work with the country’s foreign ministry to do so.
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