THE father of a seven-year-old girl who died crossing the Channel last week recounted today that he “could not protect her” — but the dangerous trip had been their only choice.

A dinghy carrying more than 100 people ran into difficulties off the northern French coast on April 23.

Three men, a woman and seven-year-old Sara Alhashimi died.

Ahmed Alhashimi, Sara’s father, was reported by the BBC crying out on the beach and beating at his own chest in grief, saying: “I could not protect her. I will never forgive myself.

“But the sea was the only choice I had.”

The 41-year-old said only 40 people were supposed to be on the inflatable boat.

It became so crowded that he became wedged inside, screaming for help and begging people to move, to let him reach down and rescue Sara from suffocating. But the men on the boat “didn’t care whom they were stepping on.”

“That time was like death itself. We saw people dying. I saw how those men were behaving,” Mr Alhashimi said.

“I’m a construction worker. I’m strong. But I couldn’t pull my leg out.

“No wonder my little girl couldn’t either. She was under our feet.”

Mr Alhashimi is from Iraq but Sara was born in Belgium and spent most of her life in Sweden.

His wife and their two other young children were also in the boat with them.

The trip had been the family’s fourth attempt at a crossing since they had arrived in the area two months earlier.

“Everything that happened was against my will. I ran out of options,” Mr  Alhashimi said.

“People blame me and say: ‘How could I risk my daughters?’ But I’ve spent 14 years in Europe and have been rejected.

“If I knew there was a 1 per cent chance that I could keep the kids in Belgium or France or Sweden or Finland I would keep them there.

“All I wanted was for my kids to go to school. I didn’t want any assistance. My wife and I can work.

“I just wanted to protect them and their childhoods and their dignity.

“Those who [criticise me] haven’t suffered what I’ve suffered. This was my last option.”

A 23-year-old Sudanese national became the third to be arrested over the incident after he was detained in Hayes, west London, on suspicion of assisting illegal immigration and entering Britain illegally, the National Crime Agency said today.

Two other males from South Sudan and Sudan have been charged.