Kurdish woman asylum-seeker Monireh Heydari and some other asylum seekers have drowned after a boat carrying them turned over in the Mediterranean Sea near the Crete Island in Greece.
The boat carrying mainly civilians from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq sank on 22 July.
Although most of the people on the boat were rescued, four days after the incident, there is still no news on the fate of nearly 17 people who drowned.
One of the victims of the incident was Monireh Heydari, a 34-year-old woman from Kermanshah. The asylum seeker left Iran for Turkey about 40 days ago, hoping to reach England through the route that asylum seekers are forced to take “illegally” to get to Europe.
Heydari was originally from the Zardoui village of Paveh, Kermanshah province, but lived in Kermanshah for many years. She graduated with a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Hamadan.
Many asylum seekers from Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and other countries, who were forced to leave their countries for various political, social, economic reasons in the hope of finding a safer place to live, are homeless and wandering in different countries, including Turkey and Greece.
In the process, many of these people lose hope in the United Nations to move to a safer country. Therefore, they are forced to pay large amounts of money and take “illegal” high-risk routes, which could lead to their deaths, to reach a European country.