This family’s terrifying journey across the Channel wasn’t their first choice – it was their last hope
In a hostel in northern France, the atmosphere was tense.
A father and his family were waiting for a call, a sign sea conditions were right and it is finally time to go.
After fleeing from Kurdistan, they’ve paid around €8000 (£6,850) to cross the Channel on a dinghy provided by smugglers who value money over life.
“We don’t have any other option except this dinghy. The surveillance for the trucks [crossing the Channel] is very strong and that is why we have to take this journey. We will either die or succeed,” Mohammed said ahead of the journey.
The family now await to hear their fate in the UK
To tell their story safely, all the family’s names have been changed.
The UK wasn’t their destination of choice; for years Germany was their home but then, after a failed asylum bid and threatened with deportation last month, they ran.
If they stayed, Mohammed says they would have been sent back home where he fears he could be killed.
But after years of making friends and plans, overnight his family’s lives changed.
His teenage daughter Sara says when she was told they were leaving at first she didn’t believe it.
“I was like, no, this is going to be a bad joke,” she explains, “Then the day we left, I looked at my friends… they didn’t know that I was leaving and we will never see each other again.”
Despite promises by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to “stop the boats”, a record numbers of migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year.
Last week the family was among them, cramming into a rickety vessel with around 60 others.
“It was a difficult and dangerous journey that no one was expecting to survive. We were all thinking that our lives would end in a matter of seconds,” Mohammed says.
The boat left a French beach near Dunkirk at 10pm.
After around an hour into the journey they ran out of fuel and then drifted for hours.
The conditions meant children were screaming and crying.
Many onboard were being sick and everyone was soaked with freezing water.
When the French coastguard arrived, 25 people asked to be rescued but the other 36 refused, determined to keep pushing ahead.
Desperate to reach UK waters, they paddled with their hands and then used the dregs of the fuel to give them one last boost until they were picked up by the UK coastguard.
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A migrant boat seen crossing the Channel earlier this year
After hours of being “scared to die”, Sara said the relief was overwhelming.
They’re now waiting to hear their fate in temporary accommodation in the UK after applying for asylum.
Like many other asylum seekers I’ve spoken to, fresh threats of deportation or being sent to Rwanda weren’t a deterrent.
“What will stop people coming on that route?” I ask Mohammed.
“You can’t stop it. This is smuggling and it will continue,” he replies.
The family hopes they can stay but it isn’t guaranteed. While the UK wasn’t their first choice, they say it’s their last hope.
A woman who was stabbed to death in north London has been named by police – as a man was arrested on suspicion of murder.
Pamela Munro, 45, was found with a stab wound and died at the scene in Ayley Croft, Enfield, on Saturday evening, the Metropolitan Police said.
A 29-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder on Monday and is in custody, the force added.
Detective Chief Inspector Neil John said: “Investigating officers have worked relentlessly across the weekend to investigate the circumstances around Pamela’s death.
“We continue to support her family who are understandably devastated.”
Police at the scene at Ayley Croft in Enfield
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The Met Police has asked anyone with information or who was driving through Ayley Court between 6.30pm and 7.30pm on Saturday and may have dashcam footage to contact the force.
A “British man” has died after being beaten and set on fire by a mob in Ecuador, according to reports by media in the South American country.
According to reports, the man – who has not been officially identified – had been detained by police after being accused of being involved in a fatal shooting.
Ecuadorian news outlet Ecuavisa reported that the man had been taken to a police station Playas del Cuyabeno, a remote village in the Amazon rainforest.
While there, a group broke into the station and took the man away. He was then set on fire in the street, it is reported, and died from his burns.
The incident reportedly happened in the Playas del Cuyabeno area of Sucumbios province
Another local report, from EXTRA.ec, said that specialist police units had been slow to arrive due to the geographical conditions of the area – which is accessible by river.
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According to reports, police officers at the station apparently decided they could not intervene when the mob arrived out of concerns for their own safety.
It is understood the UK Foreign Office is following up reports about the incident and working with local authorities to confirm the details.
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