A sort ofAccording to his friends, Harem Pirot is an excellent swimmer. In the summer of 2019, he and his neighbor Anas Muhammad set off from their home in Ranya, a small town in Iraqi Kurdistan, to the nearby Lake Dukan, a popular picnic and boating spot .
“The harem is such a good person. He can swim very well in deep water,” Anas said yesterday. “Our family knows each other very well. A great guy. He is only 25 years old.”
But Pirot’s swimming ability was not enough to save him last week Cold and painful death In the ruthless English Channel.he is One of 27 people, It is mainly Iraqi Kurds who died on the world’s busiest waterway after setting off on a fragile boat from the northern coast of France last Wednesday.
Ranya’s relatives said they believe that there are at least 10 relatives on the ill-fated ship.They have not been formally notified by the Iraqi authorities, or FranceBut their own inspections with morgue workers, Kurds in Dunkirk concentration camp, and in some cases with the smugglers who organized the trip, convinced them that their family members were dead.
It is not clear what the group of people descended on the boat. But the relatives who got in touch with their loved ones through their mobile phones in the last few minutes painted a terrible picture. The spacecraft began to enter the water. It may be hit by a larger vessel or its wake, or it may just start to deflate. The people on the boat will start desperately on bail.
Someone on the boat tried to warn the French authorities, and then the British Coast Guard. Relatives said the ship was in British waters at this time. They need emergency assistance and rescue. But help did not come in time. Instead, Pirot and his fellow refugees found themselves in cold grey water.
The passengers included Pirot’s friend Twana Mamand Muhammad, who was also from Ranya. There is a family in Darbandi Khan, a Kurdish town in Iraq: 45-year-old Hazar Hussein and her 22-year-old child Haida, 16-year-old son Mubin and 7-year-old daughter Hasti. With hypothermia and exhaustion, the people in the water died one by one. The ocean current pushed them back to France.
In Ranya, an anxious family tries to fall asleep. When the ship sailed towards England, some people were relieved by the message sent by the ship. Tuesday night was calm and peaceful. It’s time to face the strait bravely-this is the final stage of the dangerous journey from the motherland.
At first, the signs seemed promising. The journey went well enough to allow passengers to enter British waters, so the family who returned home thought. The British authorities will definitely take things from there. But dawn broke. The phone calls for Ranya to keep up with the journey are no longer available. Nor are the French smugglers.
The fishermen finally found the body at 2 pm on Wednesday. Two male survivors-an Iraqi and a Somali-were rescued from the water and taken to the hospital in Calais. The death toll is 27, which is the largest known death toll since refugees began their dangerous journey to the UK. Relatives are waiting for news. By Saturday, the sadness began. Obviously, hope is slim.
“My wife and children are not satisfied with our lives here. They want us all to go to the UK,” said Qajar’s husband Rezgar. “I told them I couldn’t come because I was a policeman. I would lose it. They insisted on going, so I agreed to join them if they succeeded. If they didn’t, they could come back. I never knew this. It’s risky.”
Rezga said that the last time he contacted his family was around 10pm on Tuesday night. “They said they were going to board the ship. After that, I never heard from them again.” Rezgar said he still didn’t know what happened. “I beg you, if you have news from them, please let me know,” he said.
The brother of one of the victims said that the passenger had communicated with the British authorities for 20 minutes before disappearing. “The waves brought them back to French waters,” Zana said, with his brother Tewana in the boat. “And all the time, no one has come to help them. I would be grateful if the British or French brought his body home. I don’t want to get anything from the Kurdish authorities. They are the reason for his departure.”
Pirot has been trying to travel to England to meet his brother Anwar, who is a graduate of the University of Sheffield and now lives in Cambridge. The reunion did not happen. Instead, Anwar took a cruel reverse journey to Calais. “I tried to identify my brother’s body. But I was told to wait until Monday, when the morgue would reopen after the weekend,” he told Observer.
Anwar said that the DNA test is underway and results are expected to be available within two weeks. He said that he was tired and exhausted, and he was unwilling to accept the fact that his brother had passed away until the formal confirmation was passed. He said he spent several hours outside the Calais police station trying to obtain information, but did not have much success.
In the temporary camp near Dunkirk where Pirot lived, friends expressed shock and frustration. Anas Muhammad brought Pirot’s Facebook page and photos of his home, including a photo of him riding a bicycle. “Actually, his family is very poor. The bicycle is borrowed,” Anas said. “Like all of us, he left because of social and political issues.”
Pirot created his Facebook page with an interesting name Harem Almas-Almas means diamond in Kurdish. Below his profile photo is a post that says: “That’s it…I won’t wait for you to come back. Because I will be leaving soon.” The last photo shows him praying.
Pirot left Ranya two months ago. He reached northern France via Turkey and Italy. Like many people living in the woods near Grand-Sinter in the west of Dunkirk, he came to England with compelling family reasons—but there was no legal way. Some people camping in the rain and mud have worked in the UK or have close relatives there.
Many people on the ill-fated ship also set off from the Ranya area at the foot of the Qandil Mountains in northeastern Iraqi Kurdish.The children of this area have already migrated to Europe. It has been difficult along the way, but this time is different. It seems great to arrange a flight to Belarus in a hurry without checking before the usually hard-won visa is issued.
It is true. “We are chess pieces,” said Mustafa Akkawi, who came to the Netherlands in April. “I said’we’ are like us Kurds. This time, the Belarusians were cynical. They are doing what Putin asked them to do. They use our people to put pressure on Europe. “
Anas said that the last time he saw Pirot was on Tuesday. “He said he was leaving by boat and asked me if I wanted to take his things. I can’t believe he has gone,” he said. Despite two unsuccessful attempts in the past two weeks, he and his friend Amanji, a 20-year-old Kurdish political activist from Iran, still intend to take a boat to the UK.
Amanj said that when they disembarked for the first time, they broke down after an hour and a half after sailing because of a problem with the outboard engine. The French Coast Guard rescued them and brought them back. They were originally scheduled to travel the same night as Pirot, but had to turn back after a flat tire in the van that transported them to the beach.
Amanj said that, usually, smugglers trade with family members at home. Sometimes they appeared in the camp wearing masks. The transit cost is approximately £3,000 per person, and once their loved ones arrive in Dover, they need full cash. Amanji said that one of the Iraqi Kurdish smugglers who arranged Pirot’s transit had deleted his Facebook page and WhatsApp account.
Despite the tragedy that happened on Wednesday, hundreds of people were camping outside, waiting for suitable weather conditions. A 24-year-old refugee, Mala Rachman, began to cry. Observer Show him a photo of Khazal-she was the mother who drowned with her family on Wednesday. “I know her! She is a lovely lady,” Rahman said.
Rahman said they had already started chatting outside Auchan, a French supermarket near the refugee camp-what the refugees called the “jungle.” The French authorities have arranged for her and her children to stay in a hotel, and she is waiting for transportation. “She saw me alone and invited me to join their family. But I was not allowed because I was a bachelor,” he said.
