Calais, France:
Osama Ahmed's life took a dramatic turn one evening in October when the small boat that was to take him and his father to the English coast sank shortly after leaving France.
The 20-year-old Syrian was rescued, but when he woke up in the hospital and asked for his father, no one knew anything.
Since then, Osama has been frantically searching for his father with whom he hoped to start a new life in Britain.
As well as the tragically long list of deaths in the Channel from migrants trying to cross, another statistic is also growing rapidly: missing people.
“I hope to find him,” Osama told AFP at a house in Calais on the French coast, where he was being housed by an association, La Margella. He rejected any idea that his father might not have survived. “God willing, I will find him,” he said.
On the night of October 22 to 23, father and son tried to cross the water, just like 30,000 other migrants this year alone. It was their third attempt.
They were part of a group of about sixty people in hiding in the dunes, who, at the signal of the human smugglers, rushed to the boat that was waiting for them in the water.
But barely a kilometer into the journey, water started seeping in.
The group turned the boat around, but the smugglers on the beach pushed them back into the sea, Osama said.
He said they were promised life jackets but none were delivered because, the smugglers claimed, they were damaged.
The boat's air chambers completely deflated shortly after departure and everyone on board fell into the sea.
For half an hour, Osama and his father managed to cling to each other, but when the boat began to break apart amid the panic and darkness, they became separated.
Two ferries passed without stopping and rescue services eventually arrived.
French maritime authorities said they had found three bodies, a woman and two men, after the tragedy that unfolded two kilometers off the French coast.
Forty-five people were rescued, but survivors reported that more people had been on board, suggesting that several were missing.
'The nicest man in the world'
The tragedy was followed by other similar incidents in the Channel and authorities have since found nine bodies floating in the sea or washed up on northern French beaches, none of them the father of the young Syrian.
Osama, who was treated in hospital for burns caused by salt water and fuel, has been to every police station, hospital and Red Cross office in the area in search of his father in vain.
He told officials what clothes his father last wore and about the ring engraved with his name. The police took a sample of Osama's DNA.
Every time a body is found along the coast, Osama fears it could be his father. As the excruciating wait continues, his life plans are on hold.
His family fled Syria thirteen years ago to settle in Turkey. Two of Osama's brothers are already in England and have also made the journey in small boats.
He smiled broadly as he described his father, “the nicest man in the world” and his “role model.”
On his phone he has a photo of him, a man in his fifties, wearing a white shirt and jacket, and with a gray mustache.
French associations say authorities must do more to help survivors find their loved ones after failed crossings.
“People are missing and their families are finding it very difficult to access services that can help them in their search,” said Jeanne Bonnet, co-founder of La Margelle, which tries to help migrants navigate the French civil service.
“We sometimes feel like we're being abandoned,” she says.
Osama, she said, was not offered shelter when he left the hospital injured and traumatized, so he returned to the same camp where he had previously stayed. There La Margella took over management from him.
Despite cold temperatures and fog, almost 1,200 migrants have reached Britain aboard small boats since early November, according to British official figures.
Sixty people have been confirmed dead this year – not including the most recently discovered bodies and missing people – a record number since such Channel crossings began in 2018.
(This story has not been edited by Our staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
