Ruthless people smugglers ‘forced’ tragic migrant family to get on death boat

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Ruthless people smugglers ‘forced’ migrants to board a makeshift boat where a Kurdish-Iranian family of five drowned after being trapped in the cabin when it capsized among five-foot waves in the Channel, it was claimed today – as France was urged to bring the criminals to justice. 

Construction worker Rasoul Iran-Nejad, 35, his wife Shiva Mohammad Panahi, 35, along with Anita, nine, and Armin, six, perished during the tragedy on Tuesday. Their toddler son, Artin, is yet to be found and searches have been called off. Two migrant adults are also reportedly still missing. 

Farhad Shekari, 28, a migrant from the same city as the family, Sardasht in western Iran, 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 and the perilous conditions, including winds of up to 47mph.

‘[He] was forcing people to get on the boat. He was saying go, go, go even though not everyone had life jackets,’ Mr Shekari told The Times. ‘The smugglers are only interested in one thing and that is money.’

In the Dunkirk woods where the Iran-Nejads spent their final days, distraught friends said the family had agonised over making the crossing just hours before the disaster – the worst in the Channel during the migrant crisis.

Others also described how the family, from the city of Sandasht in north-west Iran, were repeatedly warned that the journey was too dangerous but pressed ahead after finding themselves living in squalid conditions in France. 

The family were sleeping in a two-man tent in a makeshift camp in the Puythouck woods that is home to at least 200 immigrants, mainly from Iraq and Iran. A pair of shoes, a frying pan and a toy were outside the tent.

A series of text messages, thought to have been sent by Ms Mohammad Panahi on Saturday includes one that says the family ‘have no choice’ but to cross the Channel.

Another message says: ‘If we want to go with a lorry we might need more money that we don’t have,’ the BBC reports.

A third says: ‘I have a thousand sorrows in my heart and now that I have left Iran I would like to forget my past.’ 

Boris Johnson vowed to ‘crack down’ on vicious people traffickers following the tragedy, while government sources told the Telegraph the UK was pushing for the French to bring manslaughter charges against those responsible. The regional prosecutor has said charges could be filed within the next 24 hours.

Camp residents described hearing the family’s desperate cries in the days before they departed for Britain as they argued about whether to make the crossing.

Ahmed, 30, who slept in the next-door tent, told the Mail: ‘The last night before he left, the father was fearing for the children’s lives. They were all desperate and crying. And they were worried about the money, too, as they had borrowed it so had to go. They were really desperate.’

He added: ‘Rasoul was saying, ”I want to be in peace, I don’t want to fear for my life any more”. But his wife had second thoughts about going. Rasoul told her it was the only way as the [asylum] process is quicker in the UK. They could have stayed in Germany or France.

‘They only wanted for their children to go to school in England and have a better life.’

Rasoul worked as a construction worker and kolbar, a porter who carries goods such as cigarettes, food and clothes on his back over the border with Iraq, relatives said. 

He often made the dangerous journey under gunfire but the work was one of the few ways to make a living in the poverty-stricken city.

The family is thought to have convened at 8am on Tuesday at a beach in the Loon-Plage area of Dunkirk after the crossing was organised by a Kurdish-Iranian middleman working with smugglers. A yachtsman saw the capsized boat 90 minutes later and raised the alarm.

Sebastien Pieve, the Dunkirk prosecutor, said a criminal enquiry was focusing on suspected manslaughter, causing injuries and ‘assisting people in an irregular situation’.

He said seven survivors from the boat were in custody ‘for questioning’ over possible connections with a people-smuggling gang.

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. 

‘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.’   

Iraqi-Kurd Choman Manish, 37, said that the ‘beautiful friendly family’ had told him of plans to join others on a small boat on Tuesday morning – but he too advised them not to go by boat.

He told them: ‘It’s not good and a really bad situation if you stay in the water,’ Sky News reports.

Mr Manish said: ‘I said, it will be bad for you. They told me God is big. I know God is big, but what can I do.

‘I told them many times, but they never accepted my word… They trusted in God, they think God will protect them.’

Mr Manish has been at the Dunkirk jungle – along with more than 500 other migrants – for more than four months.

He said that everyone at the camp – many of whom are Kurdish – is upset over the tragedy, ‘but what can we do’.

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.

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. 

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.

Mr Sarkrde said he had ruled out trying to reach Britain by boat after a near-death experience on October 17 when the 10ft boat he was in began to sink in the Channel.

Mr Sarkrde, who had paid £2,000 to get on the boat, said he and 18 other immigrants, including a pregnant woman, were pulled from the sea and returned to France. 

Wearing soaking clothes, they were dumped in an unfamiliar town by aggressive French police, who told them: ‘It was your choice to cross, so it’s your problem.

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

‘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.’  

Home Office Clandestine Channel Threat Commander Dan O’Mahoney 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.’      

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.’ 

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.

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.’