An inflatable boat sails ungoverned in the sea off the island of Lesvos. It is packed with men, women and children, old people and pregnant women. It is another boat illegally carrying migrants to Greece. It is another boat from the many that push people to Greece on a daily basis. People who try to escape war and economic misery in their countries. A Greek Coast Guard patrol approaches the boat and films the rescue.
The sea is clam but the people are in panic as the boat has water leakage.
They scream. They cram to the front. They try to be the first to be saved. Some of them wear life jackets. They all wear the mask of anxiety on their face.
Some fall in the water. And keep screaming. For many it is the first time they see the sea, they feel the sea, they see the ground under their feet moving.
They all land on the coast guard patrol boat. Another tragedy has been averted. But the plight of these people has not come to an end. They still have a long way to go full of hardship, until they can settle somewhere safe.
Video: dramatic rescue
The footage was recorded on March 20th 2015. and was released by the Greek Coast Guard yesterday.
It is not clear whether the two men who remain in the sinking boat are the traffickers.
Undocumented migrants, most probably refugees from the war zones of the Middle East and Africa, keep flocking to Greece that feels overwhelmed by the problem.
Have the 150 Syrian refugees who landed at Praggi been found yet ?
It wasn’t in a shallow grave was it ?
landed where?