ATHENS, Greece – A Greek news website has released excerpts of testimonies from two survivors of Wednesday’s deadly shipwreck off southwest Greece, which fears left more than 500 people drowned after an overcrowded boat carrying up to 750 migrants in international waters has gone under .
Two survivors have reportedly testified that the ill-fated trawler’s passengers had to survive on meager supplies of food and water, which ran out several hours before the disaster.
The news website kathimerini.gr, run by the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, has published excerpts from the testimonies of two survivors, 23-year-old Hassan from Syria and 24-year-old Rana from Pakistan. The two men are only mentioned by their first names.
Hassan, who was traveling alone, said they were given “little food and dirty water” during the four-day voyage from Libya, which had run out Tuesday morning when hungry and thirsty passengers began to complain.
According to Hassan, of the estimated 700 passengers on the boat, about 15, including the captain, worked for the traffickers who organized the crossing. They were the only ones who could move in the boat. Hassan, who had originally been accommodated below deck, had to pay 10 euros for one of the 15 to be brought on deck because he was having trouble breathing.
Hassan told Greek authorities that he and other passengers believed the captain was lost and unable to get to Italy, and that it was only after their complaints late Tuesday night that the captain called for help on his satellite phone.
Hassan said when the Greek coaster arrived during the night, the trawler suddenly capsized and landed in the water. The Greek Coast Guard rescued him and others and lifted them into a rubber dinghy, he said.
Two or three other ships came during the night – it was now Wednesday morning – and helped. The survivors, none of whom were wearing life jackets, were taken to Kalamata port where they were given water, Hassan said. When he was shown pictures of the survivors, he identified seven as traffickers’ associates. The Greek authorities have so far arrested nine people suspected of being involved in human trafficking.
A total of 104 survivors were rescued and 78 bodies recovered on Wednesday. If the estimates of 700 to 750 migrants on board are correct, more than 500 people will be missing and the chances of anyone else being found alive are rapidly diminishing.
Rana, the Pakistani national, testified that he lost his wife and children in the shipwreck: the extracts on kathimerini.gr do not mention the number of children.
Rana testified that the trawler left Libya early on Friday 9 June. After three days at sea, the engine stalled and one of the crew repeatedly repaired it, but the engine failed several times.
Rana claimed that some of the Egyptian passengers asked a passing merchant ship for water on Tuesday, hours before the accident. The crew threw them a few bottles, but the Egyptians took them all, Rana said, and a fight ensued with the other passengers, who ended up sharing the water. Then, he said, the engine started up again and the trawler continued its journey, but had to stop again after about half an hour. Rana was on her knees, scared and praying. The crew turned off the engine, Rana claimed, so that passing ships couldn’t hear it.
Suddenly, he said, the boat tipped over and took on water. In the resulting panic, many rushed to the opposite side and then the boat capsized. Rana jumped into the sea and, although he couldn’t swim, stayed afloat for a few minutes until a “big ship” came for him. His wife and children, locked in a shack, were not so lucky.
Both men gave a detailed account of how they got on the boat. Hassan lived in a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus, where he returned after three years of work in Lebanon.
Hoping to get to Germany, he first flew to Libya, where he worked low-paying jobs for 40 days before being taken by traffickers to a series of “shelters,” the last of which housed 300 people.
On Friday June 9, a truck took them to a port where smaller boats took them to the trawler, which Hassan described as old and rusty. His father had given a middleman $4,500 to pay the traffickers when Hassan arrived in Italy.
Rana said he paid $8,000 to a fellow Pakistani in Libya. His brother, who lives in Italy and had arranged the payment, would hand over the rest of the money for his passage, Rana didn’t know how much, upon his arrival in Italy.
Rana got $2,000 back out of the $8,000 he gave to a person in Libya, the brother of the man he paid. Rana said that his compatriot living in Libya is the owner of the trawler.
Rana and his family made their way to Libya via Dubai and Egypt before taking a nearly month-long journey by car to a number of safe havens, finally ending up in Tobruk, Libya.