Latest news with #RossCranston
The Independent
26-03-2025
- The Independent
We won't rest until we know what happened, father tells Channel tragedy inquiry
The family of a man who is among those missing from the deadliest Channel crossing on record 'will not rest' until they know what happened to him, an inquiry has heard. Zanyar Mustafa Mina was 20 when he left Kurdistan, with the last message to his family on November 23 2021 saying 'I'm leaving now'. An independent probe, led by Sir Ross Cranston, has vowed to find out the truth of what happened when at least 27 people died as an inflatable boat capsized while attempting the journey to the UK on November 24 2021. The inquiry had heard that 26 people were identified among the dead, with four people missing and another person whose body was found, but whose identity has not been confirmed. It cannot be certain how many people were on board the boat that night, but the French authorities believe there were 33 people, including 13 women and eight children, the inquiry had heard. Mr Mustafa Mina was classed as missing, and was described to the Cranston Inquiry as energetic, smart and 'always wanted to help people'. His father Mustafa Mina Nabi told the Cranston Inquiry in an audio account that not knowing what happened to him is 'awful'. He said: 'No one has found his body, which makes it even worse. 'I am very upset, but no one has told us what they are doing to locate those still missing. In three years, we have been given no information. 'I want to come to France and England to look for my son. Sometimes I still believe he could be in a hospital or prison somewhere. 'Not knowing is the worst part, and my family and I hope that the inquiry will investigate properly what happened to those still missing. 'We will not rest until we know what happened to Zanyar.' The inquiry is set to hear 27 accounts from family in the last two days of hearings. The father of Afrasia Ahmed Mohamed said when his body was returned to the family in Iraq he cried so much it affected his vision. 'My family had to help me find the bathroom because I could not see,' Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed said. He described life as 'very difficult' in Iraq and said his son left in October 2021, before the family were contacted to send DNA samples to France which confirmed he was dead. 'We have suffered a terrible loss, and we've suffered more in the three years since the incident, when it felt like the UK and French authorities were not taking action,' he said. Abdullahi Mohamud Hassan, the brother of Halima Mohammed Shikh, from Somalia, also told the inquiry the mother-of-three left the country in 2019 because of political instability and violence. He said he only received a picture of her face in the morgue around December 14 2021, adding: 'I find it so painful thinking about what happened to her.' 'Halima's children continue to suffer the loss of their mother, but we are doing everything we can as a family to support them and give them the love they need,' he said of her family and children still in Somalia. Her cousin, Ali Areef, who is a Norwegian national, told the inquiry that he met her in Paris weeks before the tragedy and that she seemed 'very low and worried all the time'. He described contacting Somalian survivor Issa Mohamed Omar, who told him he was with Ms Mohammed Sikh until she died, and that he heard her shouting her last words 'help me, I don't want to die' after the boat capsized. In an account to the inquiry, he said: 'I will never take a ferry across the Channel again or go to Paris. 'This tragic incident is never far away from my mind, and it makes me feel sick to think about crossing the Channel in a ferry where others, including a member of my family, lost their lives because there was no other way to cross.' Meanwhile, the father of Mohammed Hussein Mohammedie said he received his son's body back in Kurdistan on his 20th birthday. Hussein Mohammedie said: 'Mohammed was often complaining that I had not been brave enough to leave Iraq. He wanted to be different. He wanted to be brave.' The last time they spoke was on the evening of November 23 2021, before he got on the boat and the whole family gathered around the phone to hear from him. His death was confirmed after he sent a photo to a Kurdish journalist who went to see the bodies after the news of the incident broke. He also spoke to a Kurdish survivor of the wreckage who described people in the water taking off their life jackets because of the cold and pain, saying 'they wanted to sink and die'. 'But not my son. He wanted to live,' his father said. 'I was told by the survivor that my son was the last one alive before they rescued the survivor. He told me that if they had rescued them half an hour sooner that my son would be alive. 'It has affected us in a way that we will never forget. 'If what the survivor told me is right, had the coastguard arrived 30 minutes earlier, my son would have lived, this I cannot bear and can never forgive.' The evidence continues.
Sky News
03-03-2025
- General
- Sky News
Deadliest English Channel crossing in history 'a terrible human tragedy', inquiry hears
An inquiry into the deadliest Channel crossing in history has heard that, despite multiple distress calls from people on board the boat, "no-one came to their rescue". An independent probe has vowed to find out the truth of what happened when an inflatable boat, thought to be carrying at least 33 people, capsized in November 2021. The names of 26 people confirmed dead and four people missing were read out as the inquiry opened on Monday. Another body was found but never identified. French authorities believe 33 people were on board - including 13 women and eight children. There may also have been other small children who did not appear on the list of the missing, the inquiry said. There were two survivors. In the opening statement from the inquiry led by Sir Ross Cranston, Rory Phillips KC said one of the important questions about the "terrible human tragedy" is why passengers were left in the water for more than 12 hours after distress calls to UK authorities were made. 5:43 The first distress call was received from a 16-year-old Iraqi Kurdish boy, Mubin Rizghar Hussein - who told the operator "everything was finished" in the "harrowing" call at around 1.30am on 24 November 2021. The boy, who is known to be one of the victims, called again at 2.30am and said everyone on board would die. He was told to stop calling and that help was on its way. A Border Force vessel, Valiant, was operating search and rescues in UK waters that night but it did not leave until 2.22am and took an hour to get to the last known location of the migrant boat, known as "Charlie". It did not find Charlie and mistakenly recorded another boat it attended as the vessel despite the fact it "bore no resemblance" to the sinking incident described on the calls. A helicopter was also in operation that night. It did not find Charlie and was stood down. When Valiant returned to Dover and the helicopter returned to its base, "the incident was marked as resolved and closed", Mr Phillips said. "At the time… all those times human beings who had been on board the sinking small boat were in the water and the vast majority were drowning," he continued. Another distress call made at 3.11am may be the last received from the incident. Mr Phillips said there was no attempt to receive an updated position from the caller. At around 12.30pm, the first bodies were found floating in the water by a French fishing boat, the inquiry heard. "It is said one of the victims died just half an hour before rescue," Mr Phillips said. "The question if loss of life was avoidable is not an academic one in this case." A report from a cold water expert concluded while some people may have drowned immediately, it is likely the majority of victims died over a long period. Most drowned when they could no longer hold on to the wreckage, through loss of consciousness or cardiac arrest due to hypothermia, Professor Michael Tipton said.
The Independent
03-03-2025
- The Independent
Deadliest Channel crossing incident a ‘terrible human tragedy'
An inquiry into the deadliest Channel crossing on record has heard that, despite repeated distress calls from migrants on board a sinking boat to UK authorities, 'no-one came to their rescue'. An independent probe, led by Sir Ross Cranston, has vowed to find out the truth of what happened when dozens of people died as an inflatable boat capsized while attempting the journey to the UK on November 24 2021. In the opening statement from the Cranston Inquiry's counsel, Rory Phillips KC said one of the important questions that is raised from that night is how passengers were left in the water more than 12 hours after distress calls were made to the UK authorities. The names of 26 people confirmed to have died and four people missing were read out on Monday, and another person whose body was found but identity has not been confirmed. The inquiry heard it cannot be certain how many people were on board the boat that night, but the French authorities believe it was 33 people, including 13 women and eight children. There may have also been other small children who do not appear on the list of the missing, the inquiry said. Mr Phillips said that night was, above all, a 'terrible human tragedy'. Sonali Naik KC, representing the families of the victims and survivors, said that evidence from before the tragedy shows it was 'entirely predictable' that a catastrophic event involving mass casualties in the English Channel would occur, and that it was 'well recognised' authorities were 'overwhelmed' and 'ill-equipped' to respond. She added the range of systemic and operational themes to be explored in the inquiry leads to the 'crushing conclusion that this tragedy was also preventable'. The inquiry heard how the boat left the French coast shortly after 10pm and around three hours into the journey it became 'swamped'. A distress call was first received by the UK authorities at around 1.30am – made by a 16-year-old Iraqi Kurdish boy, Mubin Rizghar Hussein, known to be one of the victims, who told the operator 'everything was finished' in the 'harrowing' call. He called again at 2.30am and said they would all die, and he was told to stop calling and help was on the way. The Border Force cutter boat Valiant was operating search and rescues in UK waters that night, but it did not leave until 2.22am and took another hour to get to the last location known for the boat, referred to as incident 'Charlie'. The inquiry heard that 367 people were rescued by Border Force in the Channel that night, which was described by the agency as 'not a busy night' compared to other nights during the period. A total of 757 people arrived in the UK after crossing by small boat on November 24. The Valiant did not find 'Charlie' in its last location, and it was mistakenly recorded as another boat it attended called 'Lima' around 10 minutes later, despite the fact it 'bore no resemblance' to the sinking incident with men, women and children on board. A helicopter operating that night also did not find the boat, and was stood down. 'No-one in the UK was looking for Charlie, no-one came to their rescue,' Mr Phillips said. 'At the time when the Valiant was cleared from incident Charlie, when she returned to Dover, and when the helicopter returned to base, the incident was marked as resolved and closed, all those times human beings who had been on board the sinking small boat were in the water and the vast majority were drowning.' Mr Phillips said one of the two survivors, Issa Mohamed Omar, told the inquiry when the sun rose he saw 15 people clinging to the sunken boat, and he recalled a mother screaming searching for her children. Mr Phillips said the horror of what he saw was 'unimaginable' and he began swimming for many hours. At around 12.30pm on November 24, a French fishing boat found the first bodies floating in the water, the inquiry heard. 'It is said one of the victims died just half an hour before rescue,' Mr Phillips said. 'The question if loss of life was avoidable is not an academic one in this case.' A report by cold water expert Professor Michael Tipton concluded that while some of those on board may have drowned immediately, it is likely the majority of victims died over a long period, by sunrise at 7am and between sunrise and the rescue in the afternoon the next day. He said most drowned when they could no longer hold onto the wreckage, or through loss of consciousness or cardiac arrest due to hypothermia after being in the 13C waters. James Maxwell-Scott KC, representing the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), said the French coastguard had been aware of small boat activity from around 9pm on November 23, but delayed sharing tracker information until 12.56am on November 24. 'It is clear that had the French authorities acted differently events would have unfolded in a different way,' he said. Mr Maxwell-Scott added that the UK Coastguard believed 'Charlie' had been found and there was no new information for a change of mind. 'It's been suggested that this tragedy was preventable at the outset of the evidence, I would urge you to treat that proposition with caution, not to be swayed by hindsight,' he said. 'At sea, safety is never guaranteed, nor is rescue.' The inquiry heard about the known concerns over UK coastguard capacity before the incident, including chronic under-staffing issues. The majority of small boat rescues that month had been undertaken by Border Force vessels, which were not designed for search and rescue, and it was acknowledged the situation was 'critical' and 'unsustainable' without an increase in asset numbers. Alongside resources, the inquiry will question why it took two hours for Border Force's Valiant to reach Charlie's last known location, and why it was recorded in error as another boat picked up in the Channel. Another question will be why the vessel was considered sufficient to attend the incident in the first place when its survivor capacity on board was not enough for all of the known incidents in the Channel that night, and so why the RNLI was not called. The inquiry comes as a report by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) published in November 2023 stated that the UK's search and rescue response was hampered by the lack of a dedicated aircraft carrying out aerial surveillance. Mr Phillips said that aside from the inquiry's probe, a significant amount of work has been done to prevent similar incidents, including steps towards updating the standard operating procedure such as the list of information to ask people calling in distress. It was flagged by Mr Phillips in his opening statement of the 'futility' of operators asking callers from incident Charlie 'where are you?' 17 times as 'striking', as it was clear they could not answer beyond that they were in UK waters. That call at 3.11am may be the last received from the incident, and Mr Phillips said there was no attempt to obtain an updated position from the caller. From evidence obtained in the inquiry the boat may have been sinking within 15 minutes of the last call, Mr Phillips added. The inquiry hearings continue until March 27.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
At least 27 migrants died after Border Force ‘rescued wrong boat'
At least 27 migrants died crossing the Channel after a Border Force vessel rescued those in a different boat, an inquiry heard. Dozens of migrants were aboard an inflatable dinghy that sank in the early hours of Nov 24 2021 in the single deadliest disaster on the route. An independent inquiry into the tragedy, chaired by Sir Ross Cranston, heard that a 16-year-old boy rang for help from the dinghy and was told a rescue boat was on its way and to stop calling. But instead of finding the boat in question, a Border Force vessel rescued migrants from a different dinghy and marked the initial incident as 'closed'. It would take 12 hours from when passengers first began calling for two remaining survivors to be rescued – out of at least 33 who are understood to have been on board. The disaster occurred in a month when 6,971 people crossed the Channel in 209 small boats – the largest total number of vessels to attempt the voyage in a single month. Opening the first full hearing, Rory Phillips KC, the counsel to the Cranston Inquiry, described how migrants gathered on a Dunkirk beach in the 'cold and dark' after being contacted by members of a criminal gang and 'encouraged to make the crossing'. 'They were fed misinformation – promised that once they entered British waters they would be accepted as asylum seekers,' he said. Yet around three hours after the migrants set off from France, the boat 'began to take on a significant amount of water and became swamped', Mr Phillips added. As passengers 'vainly' tried to bail out water, the inquiry was told that passengers began making 'panicked calls for help'. However, while the 'first successful call' to UK authorities came through at about 1.30am, the Border Force's HMC Valiant did not leave Dover until 2.22am and 'took another hour to reach the last known location of the boat'. By the time the Valiant arrived in the area where the dinghy was last reported at about 3.24am, it was unable to locate the boat, which had 'likely' drifted away, the inquiry was told. A survivability expert who has assisted the inquiry believes most of those aboard the boat 'were still alive' at this point. Continuing, Mr Phillips said: 'Between then and 6.10am in the morning, the Valiant searched the Sandettie area and located three other small boats rescuing 98 people in all. 'And to put this in context a total of 367 people were rescued by Border Force in the Channel that night despite it being as [what] one Border force staff member has described as 'not a busy night in comparison to other nights around that time'.' He added: 'None of the boats found by Valiant matched the description of 'Charlie' but soon after 5am the valiant reported that they had embarked 35 people from that boat. 'In fact the boat was not Charlie, but one that had been identified by the coastguard as 'Lima'.' He said: 'In short the UK authorities updated their trackers to say that Charlie had been embarked and ultimately marked the incident as 'closed'.' Eventually, the first of the bodies of those who died was found by crew on a French fishing boat at around 12.30pm that day. The inquiry was also told of how calls to authorities included two from a 16-year-old boy. The boy, whose first call was transferred by French authorities, sent coordinates from his phone that gave the location of the boat during a 20-minute call with staff from UK Coastguard. At 2.30am, the inquiry heard the teenager made 'another desperate plea for help'. Mr Phillips continued: 'He said to the Coastguard that the passengers were finished and that they would all die. 'In response he was told that a rescue boat was on its way he was also asked by the coastguard to stop calling.' Mr Phillips also said that while one of the smugglers was heard to say there were 33 aboard the vessel, there may also have been small children who were not counted among the missing or the dead. The bodies of 26 were identified, while another has not been 'conclusively identified'. Four others who remain missing have also been identified. The inquiry continues. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
03-03-2025
- General
- Telegraph
At least 27 migrants died after Border Force ‘rescued wrong boat'
At least 27 migrants died crossing the Channel after a Border Force vessel rescued those in a different boat, an inquiry heard. Dozens of migrants were aboard an inflatable dinghy that sank in the early hours of Nov 24 2021 in the single deadliest disaster on the route. An independent inquiry into the tragedy, chaired by Sir Ross Cranston, heard that a 16-year-old boy rang for help from the dinghy and was told a rescue boat was on its way and to stop calling. But instead of finding the boat in question, a Border Force vessel rescued migrants from a different dinghy and marked the initial incident as 'closed'. It would take 12 hours from when passengers first began calling for two remaining survivors to be rescued – out of at least 33 who are understood to have been on board. The disaster occurred in a month when 6,971 people crossed the Channel in 209 small boats – the largest total number of vessels to attempt the voyage in a single month. Opening the first full hearing, Rory Phillips KC, the counsel to the Cranston Inquiry, described how migrants gathered on a Dunkirk beach in the 'cold and dark' after being contacted by members of a criminal gang and 'encouraged to make the crossing'. 'They were fed misinformation – promised that once they entered British waters they would be accepted as asylum seekers,' he said. Yet around three hours after the migrants set off from France, the boat 'began to take on a significant amount of water and became swamped', Mr Phillips added. As passengers 'vainly' tried to bail out water, the inquiry was told that passengers began making 'panicked calls for help'. However, while the 'first successful call' to UK authorities came through at about 1.30am, the Border Force's HMC Valiant did not leave Dover until 2.22am and 'took another hour to reach the last known location of the boat'. By the time the Valiant arrived in the area where the dinghy was last reported at about 3.24am, it was unable to locate the boat, which had 'likely' drifted away, the inquiry was told. A survivability expert who has assisted the inquiry believes most of those aboard the boat 'were still alive' at this point. 'Marked incident as closed' Continuing, Mr Phillips said: 'Between then and 6.10am in the morning, the Valiant searched the Sandettie area and located three other small boats rescuing 98 people in all. 'And to put this in context a total of 367 people were rescued by Border Force in the Channel that night despite it being as [what] one Border force staff member has described as 'not a busy night in comparison to other nights around that time'.' He added: 'None of the boats found by Valiant matched the description of 'Charlie' but soon after 5am the valiant reported that they had embarked 35 people from that boat. 'In fact the boat was not Charlie, but one that had been identified by the coastguard as 'Lima'.' He said: 'In short the UK authorities updated their trackers to say that Charlie had been embarked and ultimately marked the incident as 'closed'.' Eventually, the first of the bodies of those who died was found by crew on a French fishing boat at around 12.30pm that day. The inquiry was also told of how calls to authorities included two from a 16-year-old boy. The boy, whose first call was transferred by French authorities, sent coordinates from his phone that gave the location of the boat during a 20-minute call with staff from UK Coastguard. At 2.30am, the inquiry heard the teenager made 'another desperate plea for help'. Mr Phillips continued: 'He said to the Coastguard that the passengers were finished and that they would all die. 'In response he was told that a rescue boat was on its way he was also asked by the coastguard to stop calling.' Mr Phillips also said that while one of the smugglers was heard to say there were 33 aboard the vessel, there may also have been small children who were not counted among the missing or the dead. The bodies of 26 were identified, while another has not been 'conclusively identified'. Four others who remain missing have also been identified. The inquiry continues.
