Migrant family deported after crossing the English Channel in a dinghy vow to attempt journey again
A MIGRANT family deported after crossing the Channel in a dinghy are back in a Dunkirk camp — ready to try again.
Farhad Salah, 30, wife Lanja Sayd Rashid, 29, and daughter Tina, three, feared they were about to die before they were rescued at sea.
But it has not deterred them, or others, as record numbers have been detained crossing the Channel.
Farhad — a former Kurdish soldier who fought IS — paid £5,000 for their 2018 trip.
They were rescued by a Border Force patrol when an ITV crew spotted them. Farhad said: “It was terrifying. We thought we might die.”
The family lived in Bolton while their case was heard but were put on a flight to Rome in June.
Eleven weeks later they are back in a squalid Dunkirk refugee camp, set to be shut today.
‘DANGEROUS PEOPLE’
Farhad said: “We will do anything to go back. We will put on goggles and swim if we need to.
“There is a better life for my family in the UK. We want to work and better ourselves.”
He added: “We’ll be back in the UK soon, god willing. We should not have been deported.
“There are smugglers here every night arranging things and organising crossings and swapping mobile numbers.
“They are very dangerous people, you must not cross them.”
One aid worker said: “It just shows how pointless the situations is as it is.”
French riot police are preparing to destroy the camp which is built up around a gym centre in Dunkirk, northern France where up to 1,000 migrants are living.
The plans to demolish the camp is sparking concerns of more last-ditch crossings.
Eighty-six migrants, believed to be a record number for a single day, were intercepted on Tuesday.
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