FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
The father of a seven-year-old girl crushed to death in a small boat, speaking to the BBC, said they tried to cross the Channel after being told his young family would be deported to Iraq after spending years in Europe.
Ahmed Alhashimi, 41, lost his daughter Sara in an inflatable dinghy after a large group of men rushed on board as it left the coast of Wimereux, south of Calais.
Sara was trampled after Alhashimi, who was also traveling with his wife, Nour AlSaeed, 13-year-old daughter, Rahaf, and 8-year-old son, Hussam, were stranded and unable to reach her.
Sara was one of five people who died in the April 23 crash.
Speaking to the BBC, Alhashimi, who said he fled Basra in Iraq 14 years ago after being threatened by the army, said Sara was born in Belgium and lived in Sweden, but that his numerous asylum claims in the countries of the EU were rejected.
"If I knew there was a 1% chance that I could keep the children in Belgium, France, Sweden or Finland, I would keep them there. All I wanted was for my children to go to school. I didn't want any help. My wife and I can work. I just wanted to protect them and their childhood and their dignity," he said.
It was the family's fourth attempt to cross the Channel since arriving in the Pas de Calais region two months ago.
They had previously been caught by police, but Alhashimi said the smugglers had assured him that for 1,500 euros per adult and half for each child, they would be among 40 people, mostly Iraqis, to board a boat.
Sara was quiet at first, Alhashimi said, holding her father's hand as they walked from the train station in Wimereux the evening before and then hiding in the dunes north of the town overnight.
Shortly before 6am, the group had inflated their dinghy and the smugglers had ordered them to take it down to the beach and run with it towards the sea.
Suddenly, Alhashimi said, a canister of police tear gas exploded near them and Sara started screaming.
After boarding the boat, Alhashimi had carried Sara on his shoulders, but had then taken her down to help his other daughter, Rahaf, get on board.
He begged those around him, including a young Sudanese man who had been among those to join the boat at the last moment, to move aside to let him grab his youngest child .
"I just wanted him to move so I could pull my baby up," Alhashimi said. He punched the man but this too was ignored.
Lini një Përgjigje