"Zahia says she had not realised Feryal's journey to Europe would be clandestine: She told me she would leave using official documents and that the organiser of the trip would get her a passport. She never told me she was going to migrate illegally. The plan had been to reach the Balearic Islands, off the eastern coast of Spain. Feryal and her family were said to have known the smuggler organising the trip beforehand."
"I have no father or brother. I took on the responsibility alone Siham Zahia's other daughter, Siham, then aged 27, received a photo from Feryal just before the boat departed. Feryal appears calm, sitting next to Amjad, who is wearing a blue coat and a woollen hat with a smiling bear on the front. Feryal is shown making a peace sign with her right hand. It was the last message the family received from them."
Zahia, who cleans a primary school each morning, lives with four grandchildren in Bou Ismail after the deaths of both daughters. The youngest daughter, Feryal, aged 23, left Algeria on 5 October 2021 with her husband Aissa and their two-year-old son Amjad to try to reach the Balearic Islands. The couple were unemployed, with Aissa occasionally working as a horseback tour guide, and they reportedly paid a smuggler about 5,000. Zahia believed Feryal would travel with official documents and was unaware the journey was clandestine. A last photo showed Feryal calm beside Amjad; no further contact followed, and messages later circulated about a small migrant boat that had departed from northern Algeria.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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