Refugee girl whose family drowned in Mediterranean deported from Sweden after turning 18

Yara lost her parents and siblings during the 2015 refugee crisis. Her case has been described as ‘a living example of Europe’s inhumanity’, writes Samuel Lovett

Refugees and migrants sail towards the Greek island of Lesbos on 25 October 2015 as they cross the Aegean sea from Turkey (AFP/Getty)

Yara* was close to turning 14 when her parents and three younger siblings drowned in the Aegean Sea.

The family, originally from Afghanistan, was one of many that had sought to make the treacherous crossing from Turkey to Lesvos on 28 October 2015. The voyage ended in shipwreck and tragedy, with almost 70 people lost to the waves.

That autumn day would mark the beginning of Yara’s long and traumatic journey through the bureaucracy of modern Europe, in which those born outside the continent’s borders are casually dismissed and dehumanised.