The French authorities have formally identified 26 of the 27 bodies recovered after last month's mass drowning in the English Channel, reports BBC News.
Sixteen Kurdish people from Iraq and four Afghans were among the victims, whose families are being informed.
They included two friends from the same town who died in the worst-recorded migrant tragedy in the Channel.
Their inflatable boat sank while attempting to cross to the UK from France on November 24th.
The BBC spoke to the families of Rezhwan Hassan, 18, and 27-year-old Afrasia Mohammed, who were both from the town of Rania, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Their families had not heard from the two men since the disaster, leaving them anxiously awaiting news. The two friends each paid people smugglers thousands of dollars to help them reach the UK.
At the end of October they flew into Belarus - an increasingly popular smuggling route - and crossed the border into the European Union before reaching France.
Rezhwan Hassan was a carpenter who dreamed of a better life in the UK. His nephew, Dahin Hama, says he tried to talk him out of going.
"We were like brothers; our friendship was strong," Dahin Hama said. "He said he would emigrate from Kurdistan. He said that he cannot bear to live here, and there is no life left to live."
The last time he heard from Rezhwan was on the night of the boat crossing. Rezhwan told his family that he'd contact them from the UK.
They pleaded with him to come back, but he said he would make it to the UK "even if it cost him death", Dahin Hama said.
Hours later, he would lose his life, along with at least 26 others.
Also in the boat was his friend, Afrasia Mohamed. His sister, Nergiz Ahmed Mohammed, says Afrasia believed that the UK promised him a brighter future.
"He went for a better life, and he said there are human rights there," she said. "These don't exist in Kurdistan. All his hopes were to get to the UK, that's why he left."
But he too would never make it. On Tuesday, Kurdish authorities told his family that his body was one of the 27 found.