Murder on the High Seas – 27 Refugees Were Deliberately Allowed to Drown in the Channel

Shocking survivor testimony of Deaths in the Channel Refugee drowning.

Hat tip to Spotlight Newspaper

Most of the mainstream media and of course the BBC has ignored this story. The 27 refugees who drowned in The Channel last week (3 are still missing) could have been saved. They phoned both the British and French Police and told them of their plight and where they were but instead of organising a rescue, both sets of authorities told them they were in the others’ country. There were just 2 survivors.

For 12 hours the refugees were alive and freezing but the callous bastards on both sides of the Channel preferred them to drown rather than organise a rescue.  No doubt Priti Patel is very happy at the outcome as it means 32 less refugees in this country.

These refugees have a right to seek refuge in this country. As the late Ambalavaner Sivanandan said ‘We are here because you were there. These and other refugees are the consequence of the wars we wage in the Middle East and elsewhere. It is the least we can do to welcome them here by way of recompense for what we have done in their countries.

Tony Greenstein

In an article French and British police ignored drowning migrants in Channel, says survivor The Telegraph reported that

A survivor of the Channel boat tragedy claimed on Sunday that migrants phoned both French and British police forces but their pleas for help were ignored – leaving them to drown.

Mr Zada, 21, who had a miraculous escape after being treated for hypothermia, said: “We called UK police, they didn’t help us. We called the French police and they said: ‘you are in UK territory’.”

“We were holding each other’s hands. We were almost fine until dawn. Then most of them gave up their lives. The whole night nobody died. Until dawn when many of them let go of the remaining bit of the boat and gave up their lives.”

21yr old Kurdish refugee, Mohammed Shekha Ahmad, described how, after the boat started to deflate and take on water, “Some people started to pump air while others were emptying water from the boat” but the boat continued to sink. Ahmad explains how they had actually managed to contact both the French and British police but the authorities were squabbling over who should be responsible for sending help…

We called the French police and asked them to help us.. The pump was defective. We sent our location to the French police, and they said, you are inside British water… So, we were inside the British water and called the British police for help, but they said call the French police.

Ahmad then described how the boat sank and they all tried to hold each other’s hands ‘in order not to sink or drown’ but after a few hours in the freezing cold water ‘the people couldn’t take it anymore… They all gave up on their lives’

Somalian refugee, Muhammad Isa Omar, then described how neither the British nor the French coastguard were responding to their cries for help..

We had jackets which included cell phones. We called France and Britain several times, but we mostly called Britain. ‘Help us! Help us!’ we said… They said, ‘Send us the location.’ But we did not have the chance [to send the coordinates] and all cell phones dropped into the water.

Omar said he was left partially paralysed after sustaining injuries from being left to swim in the water for 10 hours.

He said both the British and French coastguard did not respond to their cries for help.

‘No one came,’ he told Rudaw.

‘The boat was capsizing and people were dying. I swam for ten hours in the sea.’

He added: ‘We had jackets which included cell phones. We called France and Britain several times, but we mostly called Britain. ‘Help us! Help us!’ we said.

He said 33 passengers climbed into the boat between 7pm and 8pm but that a faulty pump caused it to fill with water almost immediately.

Mr Amad gave a similar account, and said they managed to make contact with French and British police before the boat capsized but that authorities on either side disagreed about who should send help.

‘We called the French police and asked them to help us,’ he said.

Bodies were found floating in French waters, a few miles from the coast, more than 12 hours later – prompting a French fisherman to send out a mayday signal.

Mr Amad was treated for hypothermia in France. He explained the ‘only reason’ he was trying to reach Britain was to earn money to pay for medical treatment for his sister in India.

When the boat had first started flooding, the passengers debated flagging down a ship they spotted in the Channel but decided not to as they wanted to reach Britain.

Mr Amad identified the Rzgar family, from an autonomous Kuridsh region of Iraq, as being on the boat with him to reporters.

Kazhal Rzgar, 46, her daughters Hadya, 22, and Hasta, seven, and sons Twana, 19, and Mubin, 16, are all thought to have drowned.

Just a week before the tragedy they had given a media interview in which they spoke of their dream of starting a new life in Britain.

Recent arrivals in France say they will continue their journey to the UK, despite the deaths of fellow Iraqi migrants on Wednesday.

Among the dead publicly identified are a pregnant woman, children and a 24-year-old Kurdish woman from northern Iraq trying to reunite with her fiancé.

A Home Office spokesperson said:

The French led a search and rescue operation for an incident that occurred in French Territorial waters on Wednesday 24 November, where 27 people tragically died.

As part of this operation, the French requested support from the UK, which was provided by HMG Coastguard as soon as it was requested.

Channel crossings: Victims ‘held hands in order not to drown’ after boat capsized on way to Britain