It was a strong picture: a well-built half-naked man carrying ashore the body of a woman in panic. He had just saved her life from certain drowning in the sea just a couple of meters away from Zefyros Beach on the island of Rhodes. The boat carrying migrants trying to enter illegally Greece had broken apart and some 100 people had fallen in the water. Dozens of Rhodes residents rushed to the beach and jumped into the rough sea to save the people. Again and again, Greek army sergeant Antonis Deligiorgis jumped into the water, brought a man or a woman or a child to the shore with his own hands. He saved the lives of 20 people.
UK’s newspaper The Guardian honored Antonis Deligiorgis with a long article entitled “Greek hero on the beach“.
One compelling image has come to represent all the Greek people who treated desperate migrants like fellow human beings
It was an image that came to symbolise desperation and valour: the desperation of those who will take on the sea – and the men who ferry human cargo across it – to flee the ills that cannot keep them in their own countries. And the valour of those on Europe’s southern shores who rush to save them when tragedy strikes.
Last week on the island of Rhodes, war, repression, dictatorship in distant Eritrea were far from the mind of army sergeant Antonis Deligiorgis. The world inhabited by Wegasi Nebiat, a 24-year-old Eritrean in the cabin of a yacht sailing towards the isle, was still far away.
At 8am on Monday there was nothing that indicated the two would meet. Stationed in Rhodes, the burly soldier accompanied his wife, Theodora, on the school run. “Then we thought we’d grab a coffee,” he told the Observer in an exclusive interview recounting what would soon ensue. “We stopped by a cafe on the seafront.”
Deligiorgis had his back to the sea when the vessel carrying Nebiat struck the jagged rocks fishermen on Rhodes grow up learning to avoid. Within seconds the rickety boat packed with Syrians and Eritreans was listing. The odyssey that had originated six hours earlier at the Turkish port of Marmaris – where thousands of Europe-bound migrants are now said to be amassed – was about to end in the strong currents off Zefyros Beach.
“The boat disintegrated in a matter of minutes,” the father-of-two recalled. “It was as if it was made of paper. By the time I left the café at 10 past 10, a lot of people had rushed to the scene. The coastguard was there, a Super Puma [helicopter] was in the air, the ambulance brigade had come, fishermen had gathered in their caiques. Without really giving it a second’s thought, I did what I had to do. By 10:15 I had taken off my shirt and was in the water.”
Deligiorgis brought 20 of the 93 migrants to shore singlehandedly. “At first I wore my shoes but soon had to take them off,” he said, speaking by telephone from Rhodes. “The water was full of oil from the boat and was very bitter and the rocks were slippery and very sharp. I cut myself quite badly on my hands and feet, but all I could think of was saving those poor people.” (full story The Guardian)
Deligiorgis carrying Wegasi on safe land – Tragedy report with incredible scenes
I solemnly salute all those people who rushed to save fellow human beings.
BRAVISIMO
SOME PEOPLE HAVE COURAGE TO BE HUMAN & CIVILIZED – BUT NOT MANY MORE I FEAR.
HAVE WE DISCOVERED WHAT HAPPENED TO THE 150 PEOPLE / REFUGEES WHO VANISHED WHILE IN POLICE CUSTODY RECENTLY – YET ?
THEY HAVEN’T FOUND THEM IS A MASS SHALLOW GRAVE HAVE THEY ?