HUNDREDS of mourners attended vigils from Durham to Paris to commemorate those who died in the Channel last year and join bereaved families in their calls for justice. 

On November 24 2021, 31 people died while attempting to cross on a small boat from France to Britain in the worst maritime disaster in the English Channel in three decades. 

Twenty-seven bodies were recovered from the water, including three children and a pregnant woman. Four remain missing. 

Relatives of some of those who died spoke at a vigil commemorating the victims in Parliament Square, London, on Thursday night. 

Those attending included the family of Twana, an 18-year-old Iraqi Kurd, whose body is among those still missing.

Speaking to the vigil through an interpreter, Twana’s brother-in-law said the British authorities have not helped the families in the year since the disaster.

“They didn’t help us and that’s really painful and really hard for us,” he said. 

The nephew of Hassan, another victim of the disaster, criticised the emergency services’ response on the night his uncle drowned.

He said: “They were waiting nine hours. This country says they have human rights but they didn’t save them.” 

Separate events were also held in Folkestone, where mourners gathered on the beach looking out onto the dark waters of the Channel. 

Elsewhere, campaigners held a small vigil outside Derwentside detention centre in Consett, County Durham. Photographs of those who drowned were displayed and their names were read out. 

Across the Channel, 300 people gathered in Dunkirk for a silent march and set off flares on the beach to symbolise the SOS calls made by those on board the sinking dinghy. 

A similar number gathered in Paris, where mourners lit candles and heard speeches.