First migrant to die trying to cross the Channel drowned in rescue bid
Revealed: First migrant to die trying to cross the Channel drowned after leaping overboard to rescue a baby
- Mitra Mehrad’s body was found washed up on a Dutch beach following the bid
- The baby survived but tragically the 31-year-old PhD student died in the attempt
- She ‘was a very brave girl’ and did what ‘us men couldn’t do,’ a passenger said
The first migrant to die trying to cross the Channel drowned after leaping overboard in a desperate attempt to rescue a baby.
The body of Mitra Mehrad washed up on a Dutch beach on August 18, nine days after a boat carrying her and 19 other migrants ran into difficulty in poor weather off the Kent coast.
The Mail on Sunday revealed earlier this year how the 31-year- old, a psychology PhD student from Iran, arrived in Dunkirk in early August.
Brave: Mitra Mehrad risked her life to save a baby who survived but she died and her body was discovered more than a week later
She registered at the Espace Jeune du Moulin, a gymnasium in the suburb of Grande-Synthe converted into a sprawling migrant camp, but vanished three days later.
Now a fellow passenger on the boat Ms Mehrad used has revealed how she jumped from it to save a baby who had fallen into the water.
‘This girl was a very brave girl and what she did, us men couldn’t do,’ said Ahmed Nadi. ‘We were not as brave as her. She did it to save the baby and in the end the baby survived.
‘Mitra was trying so hard to keep her head above the water, but the waves were so strong the current pulled her under.
‘We watched Mitra with her arm outstretched screaming for help for 15 minutes. When we realised we couldn’t do anything to save her we couldn’t watch any more.’
Mr Nadi told Sky News: ‘We saw with our own eyes a human being drowning. We couldn’t do anything. There was nothing we could do. Fifteen men couldn’t save her.
‘It was impossible. Some people on our dinghy fainted because they couldn’t comprehend what was happening. Mitra was just being taken further away from us by the waves.’
Two men – one Afghan and a Dutchman of Guinean origin – are facing people trafficking and manslaughter charges over Ms Mehrad’s death and are due to stand trial in France next month.
The men were arrested in October near Dijon where they had allegedly bought a new boat. French police confiscated a further six vessels belonging to the men.
Police official Xavier Delrieu said migrants were prepared to pay up to £2,500 for a place on a boat to smuggle them across the Channel. ‘It’s a highly lucrative and highly profitable business,’ he added.
According to the UK Coastguard, a search party was launched at 1.15pm on August 9 after a boat was spotted in trouble about 20 miles off Ramsgate. Two migrants were quickly rescued but Ms Mehrad was lost.
The number of migrants attempting the treacherous journey has soared this year. According to French officials, 1,473 tried to cross the Channel between January and August, compared to 586 for the whole of 2018.
Risking their lives: The Home Office warned people are taking a huge risk trying to cross the Channel but migrants are determined to make the journey
Despite wintry conditions, four boats carrying 39 migrants were intercepted last Sunday in the Channel in the space of three hours.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘Crossing the Channel in a small boat is incredibly dangerous.
‘Anyone attempting the journey is taking a huge risk with their life and the lives of their loved ones.’
Ms Mehrad came from the affluent Iranian island of Kish, a popular holiday destination.
According to her LinkedIn page, she obtained an MSc in psychology at Assumption University in Bangkok in 2015.
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