by The mother of a 21-year-old woman who died after being crushed in an overcrowded boat trying to cross the English Channel has said the family will have to make the journey again as they have “no options” but asylum sought in the UK.
Dina Al Shammari was traveling with her three younger sisters, aged between 13 and 19, and her parents, when she died off the coast of Calais on 28 July.
The family, who are Kuwaiti Bidoon, a stateless Arab minority, fled the Gulf state in 2018.
Her mother, Amira Al Shammari, 52, said the family of six arrived in France on July 1, 2024 and had attempted the crossing five times before the night her eldest daughter died.
Speaking to the PA news agency, she said the family believed there would be 60 people on the boat, but on the day of the crossing they discovered the number had “doubled”.
“The boat was so crowded. Dina was the first, she ran to the boat because she wanted to go to the UK as soon as possible,” she said through an interpreter.
“Then they followed her and, just like that, she was squeezed from all over the place.
“When she was being pushed, she couldn’t breathe, and she started screaming.”
Her father, Ratham Al Shammari, 75, who uses a wheelchair, did not make it onto the boat, according to Mr Al Shammari, when the people who were carrying him left him on the shore trying to find the boat themselves when they did it. saw him start to leave.
The mother-of-four described how the boat was at sea for an hour before the French coastguard arrived.
She said that some people on the boat were trying to save her daughter, and some people were threatening the family and the driver with a knife to keep going instead of calling for help.
“When we noticed the French coast guard in the sea, we were trying to say ‘Save us, save us’ because my daughter is choking,” Ms Al Shammari said.
“The people inside the boat, they threatened us ‘don’t stop the boat’ and they had a knife.”
As for the driver, she said: “He wanted to stop because he said this girl is going to die, and they threatened the driver with a knife and (said) don’t stop and continue your journey.”
Mr Al Shammari said the French coast guard tried to save them and picked up 20 people who were “over” Dina, adding: “When they reached Dina she was not breathing.”
According to the French maritime prefecture, 34 people were rescued from the “heavily loaded” boat at around 5.30am, while others on the boat refused help and continued the journey to the UK.
Ms Al Shammari was taken to Boulogne-sur-Mer hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Her mother described her as someone who loved cooking, travelling, nature and “everything beautiful in this world”.
She wanted to study to be a dentist when she arrived in the UK, learn more English and above all “feel safe”.
The human rights organization Minority Rights Group says that Kuwait categorizes Bidoon people as illegal residents, and their stateless status makes it difficult for them to obtain civil documents, find employment, access health services, education and social, and that many of them are living in relative poverty because of it. .
“We always feel scared there, and Dina was especially afraid of the police,” Ms Al Shammari said.
“We couldn’t stand the situation there, so we decided to go to the UK.”
When the family left Kuwait, they first decided to seek asylum in the UK because they realized that the country accepts the Kuwaiti Bidoon people.
They flew to Turkey before continuing their journey to Greece and arriving in Germany in 2021, where they were processed.
But they were refused asylum there, prompting them to try to come to the UK.
“If the German authority had given us the safeguards at the start, we wouldn’t have had to use a boat and cross the English Channel to get to the UK,” Ms Al Shammari said.
“I want to tell people that I’m struggling, I’m really struggling to get a better future and a better career for my children,” she said.
“This world is unfair, not all the people, not all the world, (but) the people we met during that journey.”
An investigation into Ms Al Shammari’s death is continuing in France, and in the UK, the National Crime Agency (NCA) arrested a 29-year-old Egyptian man on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration, in relation to the crossing.
Ms Al Shammari’s family are waiting for the authorities to release her body, and the Groupe Deces group in France is trying to raise 5,000 euros (£4,280) to help pay for her burial.
When asked if the family will still try to go to the UK, Ms Al Shammari from Calais replied: “We have no options here, where should we go?
“Who is going to protect us? We have to do that again.”
This year so far 17 people have died in the English Channel, according to reports confirmed by the French coast guard from rescue operations.
