Migration to United Kingdom | “I could not protect my girl. I wanted to give her a decent life”: Father who saw daughter suffocate trying to reach England | Iraq | France | Description | EC Stories | the world

Ahmad Alhashimi on the beach, screaming, chest-beating, rash, pain, anger, and guilt unyielding to the incoming waves.

“I couldn’t protect her. I’ll never forgive myself. But the only option I had was the sea,” he laments.

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In the early hours of the previous week, on the same stretch of French coast south of Calais, a 41-year-old man was found trapped inside an inflatable boat, screaming for help, lashing out at the bodies around him, begging for help. who moved to give him room to stoop.

In this way he wanted to rescue his 7-year-old daughter Sarah from the suffocating darkness.

“I wanted the man to move so I could take my baby,” Ahmed explains.

It refers to a young man who was part of a large group that boarded at the last minute when the boat was already far from shore.

The man ignored him at first. Then threatened him.

“It was like death. We saw people die. I saw how those men behaved. They didn’t care if anyone stepped on it was a child or whose head, young or old. “People started suffocating,” says Ahmed bitterly.

Although Ahmed is Iraqi, his daughter doesn’t even know the country. He was born in Belgium and spent most of his short life in Sweden.

In all, five people died in the same incident, in what must have seemed like an agonizing stampede in slow motion.

A BBC crew witnessed what happened.

The hijackers escorted their passengers along the beach to a small boat while trying to fend for themselves using firecrackers and sticks, unsuccessfully trying to prevent a group of French police from boarding the boat.

“Help!”

As the boat headed out to sea, someone heard a faint scream from the boat. But in the pre-dawn darkness it was impossible to know what was happening.

By dawn, the police were already moving away from the shore with a human trafficker and some migrants who had not boarded the boat.

Ahmed later confirmed that he was the one screaming for help, desperately pleading with those around him to save Sara’s life.

Ahmed’s wife Noor Al Saeed and his two other children, Rahaf, 13, and Hussam, 8, were also trapped in the crowd but managed to breathe.

“I am a construction worker. I am strong. But I couldn’t get my leg out because of the crowd. No wonder my little girl couldn’t either. It was under our feet,” says Ahmed.

It was the family’s fourth attempt to move from France to England after arriving in the area two months ago.

They were twice surprised by police on the beach as they struggled to contain the migrants who were fleeing towards a smuggler’s boat.

This time, Ahmed says, the smugglers, who charged US$1,600 per adult and half that for each child, promised only 40 would board their boat, but were surprised when another group of migrants appeared on the beach and insisted. While climbing.

Sarah was quiet at first. He had been holding his father’s hand as they walked from Wimereux train station the previous afternoon. Later, at night, they hid in some hills north of the city.

Shortly before 6am, the group had already raised their boat. The kidnappers ordered him to take him to the beach and run with him towards the sea before the police stopped them.

Ahmed says that suddenly a police tear gas canister exploded near them and Sarah started screaming.

As they boarded the boat, Ahmed held Sara on his shoulders for a minute, but his other daughter, Rahaf, put her down to help her aboard.

That’s when Saru lost his sight.

Later, Ahmed was finally able to reach his daughter’s body when French rescue teams intercepted them at sea and put some of the more than 100 people on a boat.

“I saw his head in the corner of the boat. It was all blue. When we took her out she was already dead. “I’m not breathing,” he explains between sobs.

Since then, French authorities have been looking after the family while they wait for Sarah’s body to be buried.

Ahmed says he is aware of the harsh criticism he faces on social media from people who accuse him of putting his family at unnecessary risk. He seems to be torn between accepting and rejecting such accusations.

“I will never forgive myself. But the only option he had was the sea. Everything that happened was against my will. I had no options. People blamed me and said, ‘How did you risk your daughters?’ But I’ve been in Europe for 14 years and I’ve been rejected,” Ahmed says, describing years of failed attempts to gain citizenship in the EU after leaving Iraq as threats from militant groups.

Belgium has refused him asylum on the grounds that his hometown of Basra in Iraq is classified as a safe zone.

She says her children have spent the past seven years with a relative in Sweden, but she was recently told they would be deported to Iraq with her.

“If I knew there was a 1% chance of staying in Belgium, France, Sweden or Finland with children, I would stay there. I only wanted my children to go to school. I don’t want any kind of social assistance. My wife and I can work. I wanted to protect them, their childhood and their dignity,” he continues.

“If people were in my place, what would they do? I have not suffered (my critics). This is my last option,” he says, appealing to the British government for solidarity and support.

Eva Johnson, Sarah’s teacher in Uttewalla, Sweden, described the girl as “loving and nice” in a video message to the BBC.

“I had a lot of friends at school. They played together all the time… We found out in February that she was going to be deported and that was going to happen soon. They notified us two days in advance,” he explains.

On learning of his death, the class formed a circle and observed a minute’s silence.

“It is very unfortunate that this has happened to such a good family. “I taught (other) children from this family and I was very surprised to see the deportation,” says the teacher.

“We still have Sarah’s photo, and we’ll keep it here as long as the kids want it.”