By Fatos Bytyci and Florion Goga
TIRANA (Reuters) - Leonard Farruku, an Albanian migrant who died last month on a barge housing migrants in the United Kingdom, was buried close to the Albanian capital Tirana on Wednesday in a funeral attended by his relatives.
The death of Farruku, 27, reignited controversy surrounding the Bibby Stockholm, a barge for asylum seekers moored in southern England that rights groups have compared to a prison ship but which authorities say is necessary to cut the costs of accommodating migrants.
"He said he was treated very badly there ... like an animal," Farruku's aunt Drita Kapllani told Reuters, wiping away tears. "Our souls and our hearts will have peace only when the truth is out."
The British interior ministry said, "This was a tragic incident, and our thoughts are with everyone affected. This is being investigated by the police and coroner."
It added it took the welfare of those in its care very seriously and had rigorous safeguarding processes in place.
A coroner said at the opening of an inquest that there was nothing suspicious about his death and that he had died from "compression of the neck" caused by "suspension by ligature".
His death on Dec. 12 was a shock for Farruku's family who said he used to deliver pizzas across the Albanian capital, was calm and a hard worker, although like many young Albanians he struggled to earn much money.
He was encouraged by the fortunes of other family members who had already made it to Britain.
"He went there for a better life," said Marenglen Farruku, Leonard's cousin. "He never showed any sign of distress ... there are so many unanswered questions what has happened there (on the barge)."
More than 11,000 Albanian asylum seekers arrived by boat in Britain between May and September 2022, representing nearly half of the total migrants arriving during that period.
In October 2023 the U.K. said that crossings by Albanians fell by 90% after collaboration between the two governments in December 2022.
Farruku was one of the few who still came. One relative said that Farruku thought his asylum claim would be fast tracked if he went onto the barge, only to become disillusioned once aboard. He was unable to move around and felt like he was permanently being watched, relatives said.
His sisters raised money online to bring his body home and pay for the funeral, led by an imam.
"My dearest brother that I will never see again. You will always be in our hearts," Farruku's sister Marsida said, as she threw soil over his coffin.