Amid despair, a Syrian teenager who survived the shipwreck near Greece early Wednesday in which at least 78 people died, although hundreds are missing, was reunited with his older brother in the port of Kalakata, where they Some of the 104 survivors were recovering this Friday, while the other relatives anxiously await news from their loved ones.
It is believed that between 400 and 750 people were on the fishing boat, including a hundred children and women. Although the search tasks continue in the waters of the Ionian Sea, in some of the deepest in the Mediterranean, the hope of finding someone alive, 60 hours after the sinking, fades. It would be one of the worst Mediterranean shipwrecks in recent history if authorities confirm the worst fears of relatives.
Early this Friday, 18-year-old Mohammad, originally from Syria, found solace after his journey in his older brother, Fadi, who traveled to the port of Kalamata from the Netherlands looking for him and without knowing if he was one of the survivors. . The emotional meeting was captured by the cameras of Reuters journalists and other media.
They cried and held each other through the metal fence erected by Greek police around a warehouse in Kalamata where survivors had been sleeping for the past two days. "Thank God for your safety," Fadi said as he repeatedly kissed his younger brother on the head.
At least 25 other relatives were also waiting outside for news of their loved ones. Some showed messages and photos on their mobile phones. One of them was Kassem Abo Zeed, who traveled from Hamburg, Germany, to try to find her wife, Ezra, and her brother, Abdullah Aoun. Both are missing after the fishing boat sank, as he explained to the Ap agency.
Outside the bars surrounding the hangar, there was also Mahmoud, an Egyptian migrant now living in Italy who was seeking information on ten people he knew who were on board the trawler.
The Sheikhi family also fears for their relatives. Four men and a 14-year-old boy, seeking to find a better life than the one they had in their war-torn town in north-eastern Syria, have left for Europe. Ignoring the warnings of an older relative, the group boarded the fishing boat from Libya to Italy, where they hoped to start crossing Europe overland and reach Germany. But after five days of sailing, the boatman ended up sinking in circumstances that still need to be clarified.
Five members of a family were on board the trawler, including Ali Sheikhi, 29, who was leaving behind a woman and three children, ages 6, 5 and 2, hoping to one day join them in Europe and offer children the good education that they no longer find at home, as Abdo Sheikhi, 38, Ali's brother, explained to the Ap agency. Abdo Sheikhi arrived in Germany seven years ago. His five relatives left Kobane, a Syrian border city with Turkey, in early March.
Kobane, once a symbol of the Kurdish victory against Islamic State militants in 2015, has been battered by the country's bitter divisions and more than a decade of war in Syria. With no development, no investment and no sign of peace, many in the country's northeast are following in the footsteps of asylum seekers who arrived in Europe in previous years, but taking much greater risks because Turkey has been tightening its borders and making it difficult to cross. land. Many of the missing Syrians were also from Daraa, a region in the far south of Syria near the Jordanian border.
Abdo Sheikhi's five relatives crossed government-controlled Syria into Lebanon. They then flew to Cairo and from there to Tripoli and overland to Tobruk, Libya. In addition to the expenses paid to get to Libya, the five were supposed to pay $6,000 each to the smugglers, money to be paid once they reached Italy. Authorities have detained nine of the survivors on suspicion of being smugglers. “They were supposed to arrive in three or four days,” said Mohamed Abdi Marwan, an uncle who spoke to AP journalists on the phone from Kobane. “It was a shock. We hoped they would get there safely."
Shahin, another relative of Sheikhi, who also lives in Germany, recounted that the last time he heard from his relative, he was complaining about the waiting conditions in Libya, where they spent months. The smugglers would not allow them to leave the rooms, ostensibly to avoid detection, often confiscating their phones, and not bringing them the food they requested. “There were seven of them in a room... They didn't see the sun,” Shahin explained, adding that “they were sad and desperate. But they didn't want to go back to Syria."
The men from the Sheikhi family sent a text message to their relatives on Thursday last week to say they would be leaving in a few hours, on a boat that was supposed to carry 300 people, the elderly Sheikhi said. The family was waiting for a confirmation photo from Italy. None came.
