Girl aged 5 feared dead in Channel was bringing a teddy to her dad

A MOTHER and her four children, including a daughter aged just five, are feared to be among those who drowned in last week’s Channel tragedy.

The Kurdish family, who lived in a squalid camp in Dunkirk before attempting the crossing, are thought to be among at least 27 migrants who died when their flimsy dinghy capsized in freezing waters on Wednesday.

A friend at the Grande-Synthe camp said they were hoping to be reunited in the UK with the children’s father and that they had been so excited by the prospect that they had bought a teddy bear for him.

The family were from Darbandikhan in Iraqi Kurdistan. Khazal Ahmad Khdir, 42, was travelling with her son, Twana Mamand Muhammad Hussein, 19, daughter Hadya Rizger, 17, son Mobeen, 15, and five-year-old daughter Hasty.

They left Iraq a month ago for Turkey. From there they took a boat to Italy before travelling to France in the back of lorries, according to friends at the camp.

News that the family was missing and feared dead appeared on Facebook, where one relative said Khazal and her children had made phone calls from the boat before their handsets fell silent.

‘Even in the boat there were phone calls,’ the relative said. ‘We were with them. But that night we heard news about the drowning. We have not heard from them since.

Please spread the news, we are looking for information.’

The doomed dinghy left LoonPlage beach near Dunkirk carrying up to 30 people. Despite initial reports that it had been struck by a larger vessel, it is now believed that the dinghy capsized when it began taking on water and its occupants panicked.

It emerged on Friday that Kurdish student Maryam Nuri Muhammadamin was among the dead. The 24-year-old, known as Baran, was hoping to be reunited with her fiancé in Bournemouth. Another Kurdish woman, called Mahabad, 23, from Erbil, was also reported yesterday to be among the victims, as was Bryar Hamad Abdulrahman, 24, also from Erbil.

Bryar’s mother, Shukrya Bakr, 44, told Kurdish media that he had told her on the phone: ‘I will resume my phone call with you on the other side of [the Channel], inshallah [God willing]. That was the last time I spoke to him.’

Former campmates in Dunkirk suggested three further names for victims, who had each paid around £3,000 for a place on the boat. They were Rezhwan Yasin, Mohammed Kader and Zanear Mustafa from Ranya in Iraqi Kurdistan.

A Somali migrant called Abdul Wahab, 23, is also feared to have died. His brother Muse, 22, said: ‘I am so sad. I had to tell our mother in Somalia and she cried and cried. I don’t know how she will cope.’

Detectives from France’s Organised Crime squad are leading the investigation and fear the death toll could rise further.

The only two survivors, an Iraqi Kurd named last night as Mohammed Shekha, a 21-year-old shepherd, and a Somalian named Omar, aged in his 20s, have described scenes of ‘mass panic’ to officers as the dinghy began to deflate.

‘Even while in the boat there were phone calls’