Wednesday March 5, 2025
Issa Mohamed Omar, one of just two survivors of the deadliest Channel crossing on record, giving evidence to the Cranston Inquiry into the deaths of at least 27 people crossing the English Channel on November 24 2021 (The Cranston Inquiry/PA)
LONDON, UK (HOL) — Issa Mohamed Omar, one of only two survivors of the deadliest migrant boat disaster in the English Channel, told an inquiry that lives could have been saved had rescuers acted swiftly.
Testifying before the Cranston Inquiry on Tuesday, Omar recounted the horrors of the November 24, 2021, tragedy, when an overcrowded inflatable boat sank in the freezing waters between France and the United Kingdom. At least 27 people died, including women and children. The Somali national said he now speaks for those who never made it ashore.
The dinghy left the French coast late at night, crammed with passengers hoping to reach Britain. About three hours into the journey, water began filling the boat. Passengers called for help, but their pleas went unanswered.
Rory Phillips KC, counsel for the inquiry, detailed multiple distress calls made to both French and British authorities. However, the emergency was mistakenly marked as resolved, and no rescue mission was launched in time.
“When the boat overturned, people started dying all around me,” Omar told the inquiry. “It’s unbearable to watch someone drown, struggling to breathe, knowing there is nothing you can do.”
Omar, 31, clung to the vessel’s remains throughout the night, fighting exhaustion and the bitter cold. “By morning, maybe 10 people were still alive,” he said. “But as time passed, I heard fewer and fewer voices.”
Omar spent four months in the hospital recovering from the ordeal, including learning how to walk again. He remains convinced that many lives could have been spared if rescue teams had arrived earlier.
“If help had come quickly, I believe half of those people would still be alive,” he said. “We were ignored because we were seen as refugees, treated like animals. That’s why no one came for us.”
The Cranston Inquiry has confirmed that 26 victims have been identified, while four remain missing. One additional body was recovered but has not yet been formally identified. French authorities estimate there were 33 people on board, including 13 women and eight children.
Omar recalled how smugglers initially claimed the boat would hold 33 passengers but added more people at the last minute. “They didn’t count the children,” he said. The group included many Kurdish migrants and Somali, Ethiopian, and Afghan nationals.
As the boat floundered, passengers frantically called for help. The Egyptian driver instructed them to alert authorities once they reached British waters. One man, sitting across from Omar, made the final call. “The operator gave him a WhatsApp number to send our location,” Omar said.
Passengers tried to attract attention by waving phone flashlights. Others made last calls to loved ones. “People were desperate. They knew they were going to die.”
The inquiry also examined Omar’s long and dangerous journey. He fled Somalia in 2006 after his father, a local governor, was assassinated in the civil war. His family sought refuge in Yemen, but the outbreak of war in 2014 forced him to flee again. Captured by Houthi rebels, he was imprisoned for refusing to fight for them. When the prison was bombed, he was transferred to a hospital in Iran before embarking on a treacherous route through Turkey, Greece, and Italy, eventually reaching northern France in November 2021.
Twice before, he had attempted to cross the Channel. Each time, he was turned back.
“Smugglers told us that once we entered British waters, we would be accepted as asylum seekers,” Omar said. He believed the UK would provide him with opportunities he could not find elsewhere. “I want to build a life, to be educated, and to help my family.”
