(ANSA) - ARBIL, DEC 26 - During the night in Iraqi Kurdistan the bodies of 16 migrants who drowned in the sea on November 24, in the tragic shipwreck of a rubber dinghy, which tried to cross the Channel from France to Great Britain, were repatriated, in which they lost life at least 27 migrants.
The plane landed at 3.00 am, Italian time, in Arbil, where the coffins were loaded onto some ambulances that transported the victims to their respective places of origin: Darbandikhan, Ranya, Soran and Qadrawa. The relatives of some of the victims were at the airport of the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. The repatriation of the bodies was scheduled for last Friday but has been postponed until today.
Among the 27 dead in the Channel massacre - the most serious since the strait became one of the most frequent routes for migrants heading to the United Kingdom - there were seven women and two children, one of whom was only seven years old. In addition to the 16 Iraqi Kurds, the list included one Iranian Kurd, four Afghan men, three Ethiopians, one Somali, one Egyptian and one person not yet identified. Only four people were rescued from the sunken raft which, according to several witnesses, was carrying at least 33 people.
The tragedy, which the French authorities continue to investigate, also provoked diplomatic friction between Paris and London, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson initially pointing the finger at France, asking her to take back the migrants, provoking the angry reaction of French President Emmanuel Macron, who he accused the counterpart of "lack of seriousness".
Johnson's invitation to a summit with Germany, Belgium, Holland and France on the issue of migrants was consequently canceled.
(HANDLE).
