Family of migrant who died trying to reach UK say they will attempt crossing again

It comes as two more people died in the Channel between Calais and Dunkirk on Sunday morning

The mother of a 21-year-old woman who died trying to cross the Channel on a migrant boat has said her family will attempt the journey again because they have “no options” but to seek asylum in the UK.
Dina Al Shammari was making the crossing from France with her parents and three younger siblings, aged 13 to 19, in an overcrowded small boat when she died off the coast of Calais on July 28. 
The family, who are Kuwaiti Bidoon, a stateless Arab minority, fled the Gulf state in 2018. Minority Rights Group, a human rights organisation, has said Kuwait categorises Bidoon people as illegal residents.
Because of their stateless status they face difficulties in getting civil documents, finding employment, accessing health, education and social services, with many living in poverty.
Asked whether the family would try again to reach the UK, Dina’s mother Amira Al Shammari, 52, said: “We have no options here – where should we go? Who’s going to give us the protection? We have to do that again.”
It came as two more migrants died in the Channel on Sunday morning. A migrant boat “was reported in difficulty offshore between Calais and Dunkirk” and “two people were declared dead”, according to the maritime authorities in France.
The authorities said “several nautical resources” were deployed to help those on board, including a helicopter and several ships, and “around 50 people were rescued”.
Amira Al Shammari said the family had arrived in France on July 1, and had attempted the crossing five times before the night on which her eldest daughter died. They had believed there would be 60 people on the boat, but found the number was “double” that.
“The boat was so crowded. Dina was the first one, 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, just like squeezing her from all over the place. When squeezing her, she wasn’t able to breathe, and she started shouting.”
Dina’s father, Ratham Al Shammari, 75, who uses a wheelchair, did not get onto the boat, said Ms Al Shammari. The people carrying him had left him at the shore as they tried to get to the boat when they saw it starting to leave.
Amira Al Shammari said the boat was at sea for about an hour before the French coastguard reached it. She said some people on board wanted to save her daughter, while others threatened the family and the person steering the boat with a knife, ordering them to keep going.
“When we noticed the French coastguard 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.”
She said the person steering “wanted to stop because he said this girl will die, and they threatened the driver with a knife and [said] don’t stop, continue your journey.”
Ms Al Shammari said the French coastguard picked up 20 people who were “over” her daughter, explaininging: “When they reached Dina, she wasn’t breathing.”
According to the French maritime prefecture, 34 people were rescued from the “heavily loaded” boat at about 5.30am, while others on board refused help and continued the journey to the UK. 
Dina was taken to the Boulogne-sur-Mer hospital, where she was declared dead. Her mother described her as someone who liked cooking, travelling, nature and “everything beautiful in this life”. 
She had wanted to study to become a dentist when she reached the UK, learn more English and, above all, “feel safe”.
When the family left Kuwait, they had originally planned to seek refuge in the UK because they understood that the country accepted Kuwaiti Bidoon people.
They flew to Turkey before continuing to Greece and arriving in Germany in 2021, where they were processed but refused asylum, prompting them to try to reach the UK.
“If the German authority gave us the protections at the beginning, we wouldn’t have had to use a boat and cross the Channel to reach the UK,” said Ms Al Shammari. “I want to tell people I’m struggling, I’m really struggling to find my kids a better future and good career.”
An investigation into the death is continuing in France, while in the UK, the National Crime Agency arrested and bailed a 29-year-old Egyptian man on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration in connection with the crossing.
The Al Shammari family are waiting for Dina’s body to be released by the authorities, and Groupe Deces, a collective in France, is trying to raise 5,000 euros (£4,280) to help pay for her burial.
Twenty-five people have died attempting to reach the UK across the Channel so far this year.