People ‘stomped’ to death in migrant boat crush, says survivor who saw son die
A man has said his son and seven others died after being “stomped on” in a packed migrant boat as people became trapped just minutes into the journey.
Kameran Mohammad told Sky News his son, Dyari, was among at least eight killed in Sunday’s incident in the Channel.
A 10-month-old baby with hypothermia was taken to hospital with five others, as 51 people were rescued.
Dyari, 24, died in the overloaded boat
Mr Mohammad said they boarded at night but – like many crossings – the boat was packed with far too many people.
“When we boarded, within five minutes we found ourselves at the feet of other passengers… We carried on for around half an hour,” he said.
“There was water in the boat but I am not sure if there was a hole in the boat or it was the water from the waves.”
Mr Mohammad described a situation that rapidly deteriorated for those on board – who he said included Kurds, Vietnamese, “black people”, Afghans and Persians.
“I was aware that my son was screaming but we could not move because we were under the people’s feet,” he said.
“It was not just us, there were other passengers under people’s feet. Those eight people who died were stomped on and did not drown.”
Mr Mohammad said the crossing was abandoned after the crush and the boat tried to return to France.
However, officials said the boat “tore apart on the rocks” off Ambleteuse in the Pas-de-Calais region – and that only one in six people on board had a life jacket.
“I was unconscious and they poured water in my face to come round,” said Mr Mohammad.
“They took down eight corpses and I saw one was my son. He died under others’ feet.”
Pictures of the wreck show several black rubber rings that appear to be children’s toys and French authorities have not yet confirmed how the migrants died.
Pic: AFP via Getty Images
Mr Mohammed said there were 24 people in his group and that he was one of four Kurds.
However, he told Sky News he met someone in hospital who said they were part of another group of 68 on the same boat – suggesting around 90 people were on board.
“If there were 50 people, it would be fine,” he said. “Half of the passengers were at the feet of other passengers here.”
He said he had been told the boat was 9m (29ft) long.
The deaths come less than two weeks after at least 12 people, including 10 women and girls, died after another boat tore apart in the Channel.
Some 801 people migrants in 14 boats made it to the UK on Saturday – the second-highest this year – and 292 people in six boats crossed on Sunday.
French authorities also rescued about 200 people off the coast of Calais over a 24-hour period between Friday and Saturday night.
At least 45 people have died in Channel crossings this year.
More than 21,000 people arrived in the UK in small boats between January and September, according to government figures.
Labour has pledged to tackle the migrant crisis by focussing on the criminal gangs behind the operation.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is in Italy today to meet his counterpart, Giorgia Meloni, and has promised “a new era” of cooperation to dismantle the people smuggling networks.
Migrants attempt to cross the Channel from France on 4 September. Pic: Reuters
Italy has experienced a 60% drop in illegal migration across the Mediterranean Sea in the past year and has recently signed a controversial deal with neighbouring Albania.
Sir Keir said he was “interested” in how the arrangement worked but he’s more interested in “work around organised immigration crime, the smuggling, the trafficking gangs, because that’s delivering results straight away”.
The government has said it will increase deportation flights and use money saved from the Tories’ Rwanda scheme to help tackle the crossings.
Israel has approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified length of time, Israeli officials say.
According to Reuters, the plan includes distributing aid, though supplies will not be let in yet.
The Israeli official told the agency that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands.
On Sunday, the United Nations rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Israeli cabinet ministers approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning, hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas or returning all the hostages, despite more than a year of brutal war in Gaza.
Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
Officials say the plan will help with these war aims but it would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
They said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”.
It would also try to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
The UN rejected the plan, saying it would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies.
It said it “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
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More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched its ground offensive in the densely-populated territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It followed the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
A fragile ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners collapsed earlier this year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
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