Mourning families receive bodies of 16 migrants drowned in English Channel

Layal Shakir

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The sound of ambulance sirens buzzed in the Kurdish capital in the early hours of Sunday as the vehicles carried the bodies of 16 migrants who drowned in the English Channel when their inflatable boat capsized while attempting to cross France to England in late November.

Hundreds of people gathered at Erbil International Airport late Saturday night, waiting for the bodies of their loved ones to be returned home for burial.

The 16 migrants, who hoped to reach the UK or any European country, were received by mourning family members and relatives at the airport.

The flight, which was postponed twice, carried the body of Baran Nuri Hamadamin and her crushed dreams of joining her fiancé in the UK.

“We will take her body back to Soran [for burial],” one of Nuri’s relatives told Rudaw’s Bahroz Faraidun from Erbil International Airport as her family members surrounded the ambulance carrying Nuri’s body, wailing her death. 

 

The 24-year-old woman was among the 33 migrants who drowned in the Channel, marking the deadliest migrant tragedy.

People from across the Region took long journeys to the capital to collect the bodies of their loved ones.

Another relative of three drowned migrants from Raparin administration told Rudaw they planned a ceremony to pay respect for the victims in the administration.

A boat carrying over 30 migrants from different countries, including Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, capsized in the English Channel on November 24. There are only two known survivors of the disaster, including a Kurd from the Region.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has called the English Channel tragedy the "worst disaster on record.”

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on December 13 announced the repatriation of the bodies. 

The repatriation flight was scheduled to arrive early Saturday morning but was postponed due to bad weather.

One man told Rudaw English on Saturday that he traveled 300 kilometers to collect the body of his sister and her three kids.

The body of Sirwan Alipour, a Kurd from Iran, arrived to Tehran on Monday. His family traveled for 13 hours from the city of Sardasht to the capital to receive their son.

Kurdish migrants have suffered a catastrophic fate this year.

At least three boats carrying migrants have drowned in Greek waters since Wednesday, leaving around 30 people dead, including Kurds. 

Thousands of other Kurds have traveled to Belarus in recent months with the help of Kurdish smugglers, hoping to reach western Europe in a search for jobs and opportunities they feel they cannot access at home where unemployment is high and political tensions, corruption, and instability leave them with little hope for their future.

An estimated 193,443 people have left the Kurdistan Region and Iraq by irregular means since 2018, according to data from the Summit (Lutka) Foundation for Refugee and Displaced Affairs.

The Kurdistan Region, often called a safe haven within Iraq, is facing crises of its own - high unemployment, corruption, political instability, and an economic downturn during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has acknowledged the existence of systemic problems and financial hardships but says it is working to address these issues.

 

Video reporting by Bahroz Faraidun, editing by Sarkawt Mohammed