Iraqi Kurdish family mourns death of Channel disaster victim | Migration News

In a simple house in northeastern Iraq, the parents of 24-year-old Maryam Nuri Hama Amin are mourning the loss of a daughter who drowned in an attempt to reach her boyfriend in the UK.

“He wanted a better life,” said his father, Nuri Hama Amin, who was still shocked when his daughter disappeared in the icy waters of the Channel between France and England.

“But he ended up at sea.”

Maryam – “Baran” for her family, a name that means “rain” in Kurdish – was one of 27 people killed after their inflatable boat sank in the port of Calais on Wednesday. He is the first victim to be identified.

On Sunday, his family made a wake-up call in Baran Sora, a town in the northern Kurdish semi-autonomous region, 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles) from where he died. His body has not yet arrived in Iraq, awaiting legal trouble, relatives said.

“We don’t have any information about the smugglers,” the father said, speaking from the family home. “Their promises were lies.”

Maryam along with her fiancé, Karzan, was also desperate to reunite with the region, but settled in the United Kingdom.

Karzan tried several times to get a visa for him, but was unsuccessful.

“The route is dangerous. My daughter was married and wanted to be with her boyfriend. They chose Britain because it’s a good place, because it’s safe. People go there to get better opportunities, but it was God’s fate that it didn’t work out, ”his father told British Sky News.

“He sank in the sea and died before he got there.”

Sorry

Karzan was on the phone with him as he was leaving France for dangerous waters, and he called his Iraqi family to say he was dead, said his cousin Kafan Omar.

Shortly before leaving France, his father spoke to him on the phone for hours.

“He was very happy, he was calm,” he said. “He was in a French hotel. We talked until eight in the morning.”

Iraqi Kurdish Nuri Hama Amin, Maryam’s father, receives condolences at Soran in Iraq [Safin Hamed/AFP]

Since the wreck, the bodies of the passengers have been kept in a French funeral home. Officially, nothing has been revealed about the identities and nationalities of 17 men, seven women and three minors.

But at Maryam’s home, about 100 relatives gathered to offer condolences for her death.

On Saturday, dozens of men, many dressed in traditional Kurdish clothing, sat down to recite a prayer.

Nearby, under the protection of a large store, women dressed in black robes sat in mourning. Maryam’s mother was too sorry to speak.

The men attended a mourning ceremony for Maryam Nuri Hama Amin in the Kurdish town of Soran in Iraq. [Safin Hamed/AFP]

‘Dream’

He described Maryam’s family as intelligent, successful, and determined. She wanted to pursue a career in cosmetology.

In Maryam’s room, on the bed, two photos show the young woman and her boyfriend engaged. An image shows her in a traditional dress adorned with embroidery, with a tiara on an elaborate hairstyle. There is a bouquet of white roses on her bed.

The women are in the bedroom of Iraqi Kurdish Maryam Nuri Hama Amin [Safin Hamed/AFP]

Baran’s cousin described the relationship between Maryam and her boyfriend as “like love birds”.

“They loved each other, they respected each other so much,” Iman Hassan told Sorango Sky News.

His cousin, Kafan Omar, said he left home almost a month earlier.

“He got a work visa and went to Italy, and then to France,” he said. “We often tried to send her to Britain to reunite with her boyfriend, but without success.”

Maryam was just one of thousands of hopeful young people in the region who have left home in recent months.

Many have stayed on the Belarusian border to cross into Poland and the European Union. Some have returned on return flights, suffering from freezing conditions.

A large number say they have spent their savings, sold valuables and even taken out loans to escape Iraq’s economic difficulties and start a new life.

Portraits and flowers are placed in the bedroom of Maryam Nuri Hama Amin at a mourning ceremony in Soran, Iraq. [Safin Hamed/AFP]

A close relative of the Kermaj Ezzat family said young people in the region were leaving mainly because of “instability”. He denounced the policies that block their travels.

“These countries have closed borders to young people who dream of a better future,” he said.

Maryam’s father gave a message to others who wanted to go west.

“I call on young people not to emigrate and to suffer the hardships here, instead of sacrificing their lives to get to Europe,” he asked.