Shipwreck story: the body of a Kurdish baby who drowned in the English Channel, found in Norway

In October last year, four people from the same family, all Kurdish refugees, drowned while trying to cross the English Channel from France to the UK.. The body of a baby, Artin, the youngest in the family, who was then 15 months old, was never found. Until now.

Norwegian police say Artin's body has been found on the Norwegian coast and will now be repatriated to Iran.

As revealed by the BBC, through a statement, the Norwegian police have stated that the body of the little boy appeared on the southwest coast of the country, near Karmoy, on New Year's Day.. After DNA checks, the family was notified that it was indeed Artin.

The boat that was transporting this Kurdish family, originally from Sardasht, in western Iran, sank on October 27. Rasoul Iran-Nejad, 35, his wife, Shiva Mohammad Panahi, also 35, and their children Anita, nine, and Armin, six, died.. Another fifteen immigrants were rescued alive and taken to the hospital.

At the time of the shipwreck, a representative from the Kurdish NGO Hengaw revealed that the family had tried to reach the UK by train twice, but failed both times, so they decided to pay a smuggler to get on a boat to take them. , by sea, to this country. Raoul Iran Nejad had a very precarious salary and his wife was unemployed.

As The Guardian revealed at the time, a family friend in Calais said he had spoken to Shiva Panahi shortly before they boarded the boat that later wrecked. “I said to her, ‘This is too dangerous, you have children, do you think they will survive in the water if, God forbid, something happens?’ And she replied, ‘It’s okay, we’ll do it. Everybody does it, it’s not a problem ‘”. Thousands of Kurdish refugees risk their lives every year trying to reach Europe.

Thousands of Kurdish refugees risk their lives every year trying to reach Europe.