An Algerian mother blames people smugglers and opportunists for the death of both her daughters. Now she cares for four grandchildren alone
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ach morning Zahia leaves the home she shares with her four grandchildren in the Algerian coastal city of Bou Ismaïl and heads to her job cleaning a primary school. For the past year she has lived alone with them, after the death of both her daughters ripped their family apart.
Their tragic story started on 5 October 2021, when Zahia’s youngest daughter, Feryal, then 23, decided to leave Algeria with her husband, Aissa, and their son Amjad, aged 2. At the time neither had jobs – although Aissa worked occasionally as a horseback tour guide – but they were both determined to improve their lives.
Thousands of people every year attempt to cross the western Mediterranean Sea from Algeria to the south of Spain, according to Frontex, the EU’s border agency, paying anything between €900 (£775) and €20,000 to smugglers. Feryal and her family were believed to have paid about €5,000.
