"The last time I spoke with Eskiel was the day before the shipwreck," Bisrat, an Ethiopian living in London, recounts. "Since then, his phone has never picked up."

On Wednesday, November 22, a boat sunk in the afternoon, off the coast of Equihen-Plage in the English Channel. That day, two people drowned, and 58 were rescued, according to French authorities. However, Bisrat also lost contact with the man he considered his brother: 37-year-old Eskiel Sebsbea Tsgaye. He was on board but is not among the two official victims. 

Bisrat immediately left London for Calais and has been trying for 10 days to mobilize authorities and find the trace of his missing brother. Eskiel’s entire family, scattered across the world, are worried, too. 

"It’s been more than a week of holding our breath," Mimiy, a distant cousin of the family, who now lives in Rennes, told InfoMigrants. Fyori, a sister of Eskiel living in the United States, also admits to being "very worried". "Where I am, I can't do anything," she said. "We need to know what happened and where Eskiel is."

Tatek, Eskiel's uncle, who lives in Ethiopia, was also able to contact his nephew by phone for the last time on November 20, two days before the shipwreck. "I didn’t want Eskiel to cross the Channel, I found it too dangerous," Tatek lamented. "He had only told Bisrat of the precise day of his crossing, so as not to worry us."

On November 22, Tatek learned of the deadly shipwreck on Facebook. "I immediately called Bisrat in London, who confirmed to me that Eskiel was indeed on the boat," recalls the uncle. A photo of the passengers, taken just before their departure and seen by InfoMigrants, does show Eskiel among them. Since then, the family has tried to put together the circumstances of his disappearance beyond the press release from the prefecture, the only official account of the event. 

Confusion around the sequence of events

"When it was time to get on the boat, some gave up and stayed on the beach," Mimi Tsegaye told InfoMigrants. Mimi survived the shipwreck. "I got on the boat with my two children," she explained. The boat started to struggle "barely ten minutes after departure, less than a kilometer from the beach." On the boat, many passengers, including Mimi, were not wearing life jackets. 

According to several testimonies, the shipwreck unfolded in two stages. Three people fell into the water, including two women. It is unclear at this time whether the third person was Eskiel. Several minutes later, the entire boat began to take on water, before sinking. 

When contacted, the maritime prefecture pointed to its press release published on November 22. They say the Channel surveillance and rescue office was alerted by a French Marines boat which reported that "several people had fallen into the water". Mimi was then taken care of with her two children by the rescuers. "It took a long time for help to arrive," she said. "Then they intervened, they picked us up one by one."

While it is difficult to know when Eskiel fell into the water — when the boat sunk or just before, with the two women — different people on the boat say they saw Eskiel in the water. "He was on the boat, I remember it well, I saw him clinging to the boat after falling, he was not wearing a life jacket," Mimi Tsegaye told InfoMigrants. 

Although authorities are not commenting on the case, the Boulogne-sur-Mer gendarmerie says it has opened an investigation. Contacted by InfoMigrants to comment, they have not yet provided further details.

Eskiel in the blind spot of rescue operations?

After rescuing the people from the shipwreck, the French Marines boat reported to the surveillance and rescue office that "two inanimate people are no longer within sight". The office then sent off searches for shipwreck victims in the area. 

The Marine’s helicopter first rescued a person "in difficulty at sea". A police source says this person was questioned by the border police "as soon as he left the hospital: his description does not correspond to the missing person," that is, Eskiel. 

"A few minutes later," according to French authorities, the same helicopter "relocated" the two people lost from sight, "and confirmed that they were inanimate". These are the two people who are officially deceased. 

If Eskiel fell into the water as survivors' testimonies suggest, where was he during these search operations? Authorities say "various rescue means present in the area were kept on site until the end of the afternoon" to check that no other people were still lost at sea.

"We know that there are photos and videos taken by the rescuers,” Tatek told InfoMigrants. “We are told: 'We couldn't recover him, he is at the bottom of the sea'; or they show us these photos and videos.”

Meanwhile, two Iraqis and two Sudanese were indicted for "aiding illegal entry” and "involuntary homicide" by the Boulogne-sur-Mer public prosecutor's office. The prosecutor has not yet responded to our request for comment on whether or not this disappearance was included in the file.

For relatives, the wait is trying: "The police and gendarmerie told me that they were investigating the case, but it’s been more than a week, and since then they have said nothing," Bisrat says. "Where is Eskiel? I wonder…"

'His first and last name need to circulate'

Only a few of Eskiel's relatives are aware of his disappearance and of the efforts to find him. “His brothers and sisters who live outside the capital, Addis Ababa, do not know yet," Tatek told InfoMigrants. "Neither does his mother, who has heart problems." 

In 2021, Eskiel left his family in Ethiopia on a Schengen visa in order to study in the Netherlands. There, he obtained a master's degree. He then wanted to continue his life there and extend his studies by enrolling in a second master's degree. But the university refused this new application. "They made him understand that they had only given him one chance," the uncle recalled. Following this refusal, Eskiel then went to Denmark, "but it didn’t work there either," Tatek added. 

Eskiel therefore made the choice to try to reach the United Kingdom. To continue his studies, but also because he spoke English, and because he "missed his brother Bisrat terribly" according to his cousin Mimiy. From now on, so that Eskiel is not forgotten by the authorities, "his first and last name need to circulate”, Tatek insisted. “That’s the only way things can possibly move.”

According to the Groupe décès which counts deaths on the Franco-British border, 22 people have died, at sea and on land, since the start of 2023.

This article was produced with the support of Journalismfund Europe