‘They can’t grieve’: families in limbo as Channel boat victims left unidentified

Late in the evening of 14 December last year four friends made their way to a beach near Dunkirk. By midnight, they were sitting together in a sinking boat in the Channel, along with 66 other passengers.

One passenger is known to have died that evening, but the fate of two of those four male friends – Hiva, 26, and Nima, 24 – has never been confirmed. They had arrived in France after fleeing from an increasingly authoritarian Iran and hoped to claim asylum in the UK.

In an earlier photo shared by his friends, Nima is shown proudly posing in a white T-shirt and tracksuit in Paris, with the Gare de Lyon train station and its tall clock tower visible in the background. Another photo shows Hiva smiling and holding his infant sister.

One of the surviving friends, Jamal, remembers holding Nima’s hand as the boat took on water. Soon afterwards a wave threw them into the Channel.

The other surviving friend, Rojman, remembers falling into the water with Hiva. Neither Nima nor Hiva could swim, and they were not seen again.

A hazy view of the white cliffs of Dover across a strait with a ferry and a container ship seen in the distance — The view of the English coast from Cap Gris-Nez. As the closest point between the countries, it is one of the main departure points for migrant boats. Photograph: Valentina Camu/Divergence

With any other boat disaster, survivors such as Jamal and Rojman would have been interviewed and a process set up for relatives to contact the authorities about their missing loved ones. The fate and identity of missing persons could then be confirmed. Families could grieve and the authorities could understand the true loss of life.

However, for refugees such as Hiva and Nima, this did not happen. The Guardian has uncovered many examples of people’s fates and identities seemingly not being investigated after boat disasters in the Channel.

It is a “vast humanitarian tragedy”, according to Florian von König, who leads the International Committee of the Red Cross’s advocacy efforts on missing persons.

Someone from another humanitarian organisation, who asked not to be named, claims authorities lack the will to investigate missing refugees or migrants “unless a body is found”.

In the past decade alone at least 38 people remain unidentified after going missing or dying trying to cross the Channel, according to the International Organization for Migration.

A big list on a pavement showing names of people, with dates and ethnic background — A list of 45 people, from nine ethnicities, who died or went missing while trying to cross to the UK from the French coast over one year. Some are unnamed. Photograph: Valentina Camu/Divergence

This refusal to investigate the fate of missing migrants leaves families with “an open wound for the rest of their lives”, says von König.

“They can’t grieve, gain closure and move on with their lives,” he says. “And in many countries if you can’t prove your husband has died then you may be unable to access a bank account, property or guardianship of your children.”

The surviving friends say the Red Cross asked about Hiva and Nima, but the French authorities only questioned them about the smugglers and who was steering the boat.

More than a month after the shipwreck, the two survivors had not been contacted by the authorities about their friends. The missing men’s families in Iran are also still awaiting news.

Five men stand or sit around a camp fire on which a small pan of beans is cooking — Survivors of an attempted boat crossing that capsized last August heat some food in a camp near the hospital in Calais. Photograph: Valentina Camu/Divergence

The Guardian has learned of a further two people who have gone missing after a boat sank in the Channel and whose fate and identity does not appear to have been investigated.

On 11 August last year, an overcrowded boat ran out of diesel an hour after leaving a beach near Calais. Most of the 67 passengers were former soldiers in the Afghan army who feared for their lives after the exit of British and US forces and the Taliban’s takeover of the country in 2021.

As the driver tried in vain to restart the boat, one of its inflatable tubes exploded, throwing everyone into the water.

Some passengers had lifejackets on, others had inflatable buoys, but many had nothing. In the ensuing chaos, passengers tried to cling to the wreckage of the boat, while others found themselves scattered with waves breaking over them, drifting in the currents and screaming for help.

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A man writes on a banner in what looks like Arabic or Persian script next to a drawing of people in a small boat — A migrant writes on a banner at a rally in Calais in tribute to six migrants who died in the Channel. Photograph: Sameer al-Doumy/AFP/Getty

Five bodies were picked up later that morning from the Channel, while another person was evacuated by helicopter to a hospital in Calais, where he was declared dead.

A rescue operation by French and British teams managed to rescue 59 of the passengers but two people were unaccounted for: Ahmad Jan, 26, who had worked for the police in Afghanistan; and Samiullah, 20, who had fled over fears of being forcibly conscripted as a fighter by the Taliban.

“These two people were with me in Calais,” says Naeem*, one of the survivors. “I met them in the camp and on the boat. Since the shipwreck I have never heard from them again.”

Another survivor also confirmed the two had been on the boat.

A south Asian man standing in an office looks at the camera — Mohammad Amin Ahmadzai, head of an Afghan support group in Lille, was contacted by the families of the missing men but had no news for them, even after months had passed. Photograph: Valentina Camu/Divergence

After hearing about the boat sinking, Mohammad Amin Ahmadzai, who runs Association Solidarité Culture et Insertion des Afghans (ASCIA), an Afghan support group based in Lille, went to the town of Boulogne-sur-Mer, near Calais, to help.

He was told the survivors were sheltering in emergency accommodation and their phones had been confiscated by the police. An update published on the support group’s Facebook page triggered a wave of requests and photos from families looking for information.

As the weeks and months passed, however, the families of Ahmad Jan and Samiullah, who had contacted Ahmadzai, had no news of their loved ones. In a last photo message sent to his older brother, Muslim, back in Afghanistan, Ahmad Jan had been all smiles. “I knew he planned to cross that next evening,” says Muslim.

After the sinking, the French authorities suggested one or two other people may also have been on the boat but were unaccounted for. So far, however, they do not appear to have made any attempt to get in touch with family members. “They have not contacted us in any way,” says Muslim.

British investigators did not look into the August case, pointing out that although they were made aware of the accident, it did not fall under their jurisdiction because it had occurred in French waters.

The French investigation, which has not yet finished, is led by a drug and human-trafficking unit based in Paris.

“These situations are often approached from a security perspective and the humanitarian side gets neglected,” says von König.

As a result, adds Steve Valdez-Symonds, from the human rights group Amnesty International, authorities were in effect “cancelling their humanity permanently, in both life and death”.

* Names have been changed