IFIR-Eng The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees
Today (04 February 2018) at 1.30am Iraq time Saman’s body was returned to his family in Kurdistan for burial.
Saman left Iraq in August 2017 to look for a better life. Saman reached Istanbul safely. The last contact Saman had with his family was via phone call on 19 September. He told his family of his desire to reach Europe and said he was going to buy a ticket for a boat. Tragically Saman never reached his destination alive. The boat ran into trouble in the black Sea close to Rumania, when the Rumanian Helicopter arrived. Saman got up to greet them but sadly slipped and fell off the boat and drowned.
This however was not the end of Saman’s story. His body was found 25 days later on the 17 October by the Bulgarian authorities. The Bulgarian authorities informed Saman’sfamily that his body had been found. At this point the family contacted International Federation Iraqi Refugees to represent them as they wanted their son to be returned to Iraqi Kurdistan for burial. IFIR immediately wrote to the Bulgarian authorities asking them to return the body to Saman’s family. At first they were told as long as the family could provide DNA it shouldn’t take more than a week to return Saman to his family. Unfortunately despite daily representations from IFIR it has taken more than three months for the Bulgarian authorities to release Saman’s body.
International Federation of Iraqi Refugees-IFIR would like togive special thanks to the following people Richard M, OmedBalaki, Michael Zaimov, Hristo Dinkov ,Vladimir Yavachevand finally the ambulance crew who took the body from Sulaimania to Saman’s home all of whom have helped support IFIR in getting Saman’s body returned to his family. We would also like to thank everyone who has financially supported IFIR to enable us to pursue the release of Saman’sbody. IFIR raised 1,600 dollars from individual donations.
For further information on Saman’s story please see the linksbelow:
https://m.dnevnik.bg/bulgaria/2018/01/03/3104894_neshto_losho_se_sluchi_sus_saman/
https://www.federationifir.com/en/?p=589
Secretary of International Federation of Iraqi Refugees
