'Our lives are paused': Afghan siblings sent to Manchester hotel forced to live 230 miles apart from family

An Afghan evacuee says her family's 'lives are paused' as they've been split up to live in hotels more than 230 miles apart. Marwa Koofi, 21, fled Kabul when the capital city fell to the Taliban in August last year and has lived in two hotels over the last 12 months.

She's recently been split up from three of her family members. Ms Koofi was moved from a hotel in Selby, North Yorkshire, to one near Crawley, West Sussex, on July 26, where she stays with her mother and brother.

But her two brothers - aged 23 and 26 - were sent to a hotel in Manchester, while her 35-year-old sister remains in a hotel on the outskirts of Leeds.

She has described feeling like her family's 'lives are paused' as they await news of permanent accommodation from the Home Office. In a letter seen by the BBC, refugees minister Lord Harrington appealed to councils to help house the 10,500 Afghans currently staying at hotels across the UK.

Ms Koofi, who is set to study International Relations at King's College London in September, said the year has felt 'wasted'. "I stayed in a hotel for 11 months, I don't want to stay in a hotel for another 11 months," she said.

"I have wasted a year because my hotel (in Selby) was in a location where I couldn’t do anything. When I think back to the year, I just see it as a blank – it's nothing. I haven't done anything. You don't even have the energy to get up from your bed because you know your day is nothing.

"I feel like our lives are paused, I just want our lives to be played."

Ms Koofi was moved to the hotel near Crawley on July 26, where she stays with her mother and brother. Her 35-year-old sister remains at the hotel outside of Leeds, whereas her two brothers were sent to Manchester.

She said being separated