Last November 24, 27 people were killed after their boat sank, and now there are numerous testimonies from the victims' relatives and phone records confirming that they had already called for help from the British and French, but to no avail.
Pending the results of the judicial investigation, which must determine the identities of the victims, the smuggling networks involved and the circumstances of the tragedy, a report in the French newspaper Le Monde says that the indications are that the migrants actually used their phones to call for help during the sinking of their rubber boat after they had no choice but to cling to what was It is still afloat, but all of them finally died except for two of them, and 27 dead bodies were recovered, including the bodies of 6 women and a girl, and it turned out that the majority of these migrants were from Iraqi Kurdistan.
Shortly after the tragedy, the Kurdish media website Rudaw conducted an interview with the only survivors, during which they revealed that the migrants had asked for help. One of them - Muhammad Sheikha Ahmed, originally from Iraqi Kurdistan - explained that they called the French police and sent them their location, but the French said, "You are in The English side of the English Channel,” noting that they then contacted the British and said, “Call the French.”
Le Monde added that the second survivor - the Somali Mohamed Issa Omar - said, "We drowned in British waters, and we called for help and they asked us to send our location."
Omar indicated that calls were made for British and French assistance, explaining that he had been in the water for more than 10 hours, before he was found by a fishing boat.
According to a judicial source, the survivors' statements were confirmed by police investigation files and phone records, and the British Coast Guard Agency (MCA) said in a statement issued on December 3 that "each call has been evaluated and processed."
On that day, the agency added, it received more than 90 rescue requests from the English Channel.
She indicated that she used a ship for the border guards and a helicopter, adding that "three small boats were found and their passengers were rescued, and no other small boats or people were discovered in the waters in the search area."
In response to a question from Le Monde newspaper, the competent authorities on the French side made it clear that they had not received any distress call, and were not aware of the existence of a boat facing difficulties, adding that on that day - that is, last November 24 - it rescued 106 people "during 3 operations." different".
The British authorities deny that they recorded a case in which a beggar asked to contact the French authorities instead, and the French say that they deal immediately with distress calls and mobilize the necessary means to do so.
However, Zina Maman Muhammad - who is the sister of one of those who died in the aforementioned boat - says that she is now certain that "negligence" caused her brother's death.
In this regard, the newspaper mentions that one of the migrants - who was in another boat that almost met the same fate as the boat that sank on November 24 - told it that whenever they called for the French, they told them to call the British, and when they called the British, they said, "Call the French." “.. “They are all mocking us,” he said.