Since 1999, 300 people have drowned trying to cross the channel. 36 of them were children. It has just been announced on the news that the four people who just died crossing the channel were a family. Rasoul Iran-Nejad, 35, Shiva Mohammad Panahi, 35, Anita, nine, and Armin, six drowned when the boat they were travelling on sank. 

Their fifteen-month old baby, Artin, has yet to be found and is presumed dead.

This family sold all of their belongings to scrape up enough money to pay for the dangerous journey from France to the UK. They had paid over £20,000 only for the smuggler's boat to sink. They had already travelled all the way from Iran. Their wider family is devastated. Previous text messages from Ms Mohammad Panahi, sent on Saturday, acknowledged the danger but said they had "no choice". The messages also revealed that they didn't have enough money to travel with a lorry, which is less dangerous.

This tragic story is one of many, and it is absolutely unbelievable that the government does not give them asylum and a safe path to the UK. The refugee camps that asylum seekers currently reside in are incredibly dangerous, with diseases, cold weather and hunger present at all times. As the winter approaches many will die, including children. The least that the government can do is make sure that the people seeking asylum have safe places to live and enough to eat.

By signing this petition you are agreeing that the UK government should:

• make the refugee camps in Calais safer to live in by giving humanitarian aid
• help them cross the channel safely so they don't have to risk their lives

I have never made a petition before and as you can see I don't really know what I'm doing but when I heard the news this was the first thing I could think of to do (there were no other petitions on this that I could find) so please please please sign it, promote it and share it to help prevent the deaths of innocent people and children through the neglect of the UK government.