The relatives of 27 people who died in the worst mass drowning in the Channel for decades have marked two years since the disaster by issuing an open letter demanding answers over what happened.
Signed together with dozens of refugee NGOs, the letter states that the families still have no explanation as to why French and British authorities failed the people onboard a sinking dinghy who repeatedly called for help.
At least one pregnant woman and three children were among the 27 bodies recovered after the dinghy sank. Four people remain missing.
The letter states: “We will never let the lives lost that night, or those of loved ones lost since, be forgotten. We demand justice and change. We long for people seeking safety on British shores to be seen as human beings, deserving of rights, compassion and dignity.
“Tragedies like this occur because of the ‘othering’ our politicians insist on – of the dehumanising of sons and fathers, mothers and daughters, friends and family members.”
The letter calls for safe routes for all refugees wishing to come to the UK and improved resettlement and refugee family reunion schemes. “That is the only way these tragedies will end,” it says.
An investigation published this month by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), part of the Department for Transport (DfT), into the incident found that there was confusion that night as multiple SOS calls were received, weather conditions were poor and there was a staff shortage in the emergency response team.
The families have not been told when the results of an inquiry into the tragedy, announced after the publication of the MAIB report, will be made public.
The open letter has been coordinated by a coalition of charities in the refugee sector including Calais Appeal, Care4Calais, Freedom from Torture, Refugee Action, the Refugee Council, Safe Passage and the Scottish Refugee Council.
Steve Smith, the chief executive of Care4Calais, said: “Two years on from the largest loss of life in the Channel in decades, no one has taken responsibility for the failure of UK authorities to respond to the desperate calls for help from those on board this tragic boat.
“Justice will not be served until the families have answers, the people responsible are held accountable and our government starts valuing the lives of refugees by providing safe passage.”
Since the mass drowning on 24 November 2021 there have been several others in the Channel, most recently on Wednesday when two people drowned 0.6 miles (1km) off the French coast. More than 27,000 asylum seekers have crossed the Channel in small boats so far this year.
