MailOnline was contacted by a mother and her four children about the Channel boat accident. They had just spoken out a week prior to the tragedy.
Iraqi Kurdish mother Kazhal Rzgar, 46, and daughters Hadya, 22, and Hasta, seven, and sons Twana, 19, and Mubin, 16, are feared to be among 27 victims of last Wednesday’s disaster.
MailOnline found the family in November 2017 while they were looking for blankets, warm clothes and kitchen implements after their camp was closed down by French police.
MailOnline also photographed Hasta on the 16th of November as she eagerly attempted on an orange bright lifejacket to get on board a boat.
Hadya Rzgar 22 years old, Mubin 16, Hasta 7 year old, and their mother KazhalRzgar (right) are believed to have been among the 27 migrants killed in last week’s Channel tragedy.
She and her family were one of hundreds of migrants to France who took the chance to apply for asylum because it was worth their life to reach the UK.
Kazhal, her children and Rezgar left Rezgar, her husband as a policeman in Kurdish-controlled Iraq for five months to start their journey.
They hired people smugglers who would take them to Turkey from Darbandikhan and to then transport them on board a boat to Italy.
They were trafficked through France and Italy by lorries, before arriving at Grand-Synthe in Dunkirk nearly four weeks ago.
The survivors survived on daily food aid from charity workers until the camp was shut down by French police in November 2016.
MailOnline discovered them digging through debris piles to discover anything that could be used after they had broken through the fencing at the camp’s sealed entrance.
MailOnline later captured them as they stacked up their items and set up shop in an old shopping basket. Later, MailOnline photographed the couple pitching their tent next to a field.
In an exclusive interview, Mubin said: ‘We are staying here because we want to come to England. England seems so beautiful to us. You can get a job, go to school and have good weather.’
Mubin admitted that his family had paid ‘so much money’ to people smugglers to reach Europe, but he refused to say how much.
He added: ‘It is hard living here in the cold and rain with no toilets and no money. When I reach England, I plan to attend school to become a barber.
‘France is good, but my mum doesn’t like France. It is difficult to understand the language. English is easier and we have family in Birmingham as well.’
Hasta Rzgar, 7 years old. After they moved from Grande Synthe camp, Migrants established camp on the land next to the Grande Synthe.
Because they didn’t have any money, he said his family was forced to borrow 2500 euros each for a place on a boat crossing the English Channel.
Mubin added: ‘It is so dangerous on the boats, but we have to go.’
His sister Hadya, a former art student at a Kurdish university, said in faltering English: ‘In Iraq we have no money and no life. The people are poor. England is a great place to live. There is nothing better than a house.
‘When I get there, I want to be an artist or an actor in a film’.
Kazhal who speaks no English, said through her son: ‘We just want to come to your country. All we want is a life.’
After being forced from Grand-Synthe by the police, she and her family spent some of the last remaining savings on the night at a hotel.
Authorities gave the 1,500 migrants living in the camp, which was on an abandoned piece of industrial land, the opportunity to claim asylum in France. They also took them to refuges where they could be fed and slept.
Only 400 people accepted, according to reports.
Mubin explained that his family decided to camp in Grand-Synthe instead of giving up their goal of reaching the UK.
Hasta (pictured) wearing a Life Jacket at Grande Synthe Migrant Camp near Dunkirk Police
MailOnline captured him, his mom and sister as they set up their tent in a field corner with other migrants the day after the eviction.
Hasta was Hasta’s sister and she was dressed in a pink animal headdress. She made cheeky poses while stretching out her guy ropes.
According to some reports, the family was expelled for the second time and made to flee the field in a matter of days. They then moved to a camp half a block away from the canal and disused railway lines.
They have now cleared the field they allegedly stayed in for a couple of nights to stop anyone else from wanting to camp there ever again.
Speaking from his home In Iraq, Kazhal’s husband Rezgar, told the Observer: ‘My wife and children were unhappy with our life here. We were all asked to travel to the UK.
‘I told them I couldn’t come because of my job as a policeman. They would take it. They insisted to go so I agreed I would join them if they made it, and if they didn’t, they could come back. I never knew it was risky.’
According to him, he last spoke with his family around 10PM on Tuesday.
Rezgar added: ‘They said they were about to get on a boat. After that I didn’t hear from them again.’
He added that he still didn’t really know what had happened, telling a reporter: ‘I beg you, tell me if you have any news from them.’
21-year-old Kurdish immigrant survived Channel tragedy, killing 27. He couldn’t SWIM and floated in freezing waters due to his lifejacket.
A Kurdish migrant who couldn’t swim survived the Channel tragedy that killed 27 people due to a lifejacket as he revealed to his family that he would attempt the crossing again.
Mohammed Shekha was 21-years old and a Shire from Iran. He had traveled to England to seek a job in order to help pay his sister Fatima’s medical bills.
Mohammed sent his mother a voice message at 8.35pm on Tuesday from a migrant camp in France before attempting the crossing.
He replied, “Mum we are moving right now.” He said that we must turn off our smartphones.
“It’s definitely not the same as last time. Okay? God wills that we leave. Prayers for me.
Marwan (18) said that Shekha told Marwan his brother Shekha, 18 years old, that the smugglers were unsure about their attempt because of poor weather conditions.
Mohammed Sheka (R21), one of the only two remaining migrants who survived Wednesday’s deflating rubber dinghy transporting 29 migrants. Fatima (18, Mohammed’s younger sister) is pictured left. Fatima is traveling to Britain with Mohammed to make money for her medical treatments.
Marwan stated to The Sunday Times that it was a miracle. He cannot swim. “I don’t understand how that happened.”
He said, “All of a sudden he found himself in water too.”
“He stated that he cannot stop thinking about those who have died before him. He keeps thinking about it. He did not know how to save the woman who had fallen in.
Mohammed traveled from Syria through Belarus to reach Germany via a network made up of smugglers. He then crossed the border into Poland and Germany to get to Northern France, where he reached the last stop before crossing the Channel.
He attempted to cross previously but was stopped by French border agents who brought him back.
Mohammed, a Somalian man aged 20 and who survived Wednesday’s Channel tragedy, was among only two to survive. Omar, a Somalian man, was also taken to France to be treated for hypothermia.