Smugglers threw away our life jackets and bags: Greece shipwreck survivor

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Bags and life jackets were prohibited to be taken on the boat that tragically sunk off the Greek coast carrying hundreds of migrants, a survivor said on Sunday, recalling the tragic experience with migration and smuggling in a battle for survival.

An overloaded migrant fishing boat carrying hundreds of people sank off Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula on Wednesday. The Greek coast guard has rescued around 100 survivors from the sea while 78 have lost their lives. The boat reportedly was traveling from Libya to Italy before capsizing.

Eli Shexi, a survivor from the Kurdish city of Kobane in northern Syria, boarded the boat from Libya and was promised to be taken to Italy. Although a fee of $4,000 was agreed upon, the smugglers asked for $500 extra to be taken to the already-overcrowded boat.

“They did not let us take life jackets,” Shexi told Rudaw’s Dilbixwin Dara, adding that their life jackets and bags were thrown away because the smugglers said, “the boat was going to be cramped.”

“It seems like this is the worst tragedy we’ve seen in the Mediterranean,” Ylva Johansson, European Union (EU) Commissioner for Home Affairs said in a press conference in Brussels on Friday.

Global organizations such as International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) called for “urgent and decisive action” in order to prevent future incidents from occurring.

According to Shexi, the capsized boat was boarded by nearly 750 migrants, including 150 Syrians, of which only around 80 survived. From the Kobane group, five survived and six are still missing.

“We did not have fresh water, we drank sea water and it was salty,” he said.

Greek authorities faced heavy criticism for the way they handled the disaster. The coastguard denied claims that the boat capsized after they tried towing it to the shore.

“Two hours before we reached Italy, our boat capsized. It was around 2:00 am, and everyone was trying to rescue themselves,” Shexi said of the tragedy. He stayed afloat in the water for an hour before being rescued.

According to Greek media, nine people have been arrested on suspicion of people trafficking, including several Egyptians.

The survivors are mainly from Pakistan, Syria, and Egypt.

On Sunday, two buses of survivors were transported to a refugee camp in Athens, including Shexi, who wants to go to Germany to start a new life.

Kobane, where Shexi is from, is in the Kurdish enclave under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on the border of Syria and Turkey. In 2014, Kobane endured a siege and attacks by the Islamic State (ISIS) militants. The city then became a symbol of the fierce fight it put up against the jihadist group. 

However, Kobane then became entangled in the fight between the Kurdish forces who had liberated it and the Turkish army. The city continues to endure Turkish bombardment. 

Due to the unsettling condition in their home countries, migrants opt to take the arduous and dangerous journey through the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. A large number of those fleeing poverty and war cross from Africa and the Middle East via Italy in hopes of a better life on the European continent.