Syrians onboard rescue ship in the Mediterranean say they had no choice but to flee

Record ID: 559713

  • Title: Syrians onboard rescue ship in the Mediterranean say they had no choice but to flee
  • Date: 7th April 2017
  • Summary: AT SEA (APRIL 6, 2017) (REUTERS) RESCUED MIGRANTS ON DECK / RESCUER SPEAKING TO MIGRANT MIGRANTS STANDING NEXT TO RAILING LOOKING TOWARDS SEA MIGRANTS SEATED ON DECK OF RESCUE BOAT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN REFUGEE, YEHYA CHEHABI, SAYING: "My family is in Syria, my mother is dead and I don't know where my father is, and I have younger brothers. I left Syria when I was younger, they hit our house with rockets." MIGRANTS SEATED ON DECK GROUP OF MALE MIGRANTS SEATED ON DECK (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN PALESTINIAN REFUGEE, AHMAD BERRO, SAYING: "I came to Libya on January 30 and our tragedy with the sea began then. We suffered a lot, militias kidnapped us, they tell you that they are coastguards but there aren't any, they are all militias, they buy and sell human beings. God knows what we have been through in order to get to this point." MIGRANTS WRAPPED IN THERMAL BLANKETS NEXT TO RESCUER, LOOKING AT SEA OVER RAILING YOUNG GIRL LOOKING ON WITH MIGRANTS WEARING WHITE PROTECTIVE SUITS IN BACKGROUND (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN REFUGEE FROM DARAA, RAED ABOU SELL, SAYING: "I decided to leave because of the situation in Syria, I came to Libya where I was kidnapped four times, they bought and sold me, they took away everything I had, our mobile phones, and left us with nothing. Our lives were endangered when we were in Libya so we decided to come to Italy because it is safer here and I hope that it will be better for us." MIGRANTS ON DECK AS BOAT APPROACHES PORT MIGRANTS ON DECK DOING THUMBS UP SIGN MIGRANTS ON DECK AS BOAT APPROACHES PORT
  • Embargoed: 21st April 2017 12:02
  • Keywords: Syria Mediterranean rescue MOAS conflict
  • Location: AT SEA
  • City: AT SEA
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016BEHB2F
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Travelling on a rescue boat in the Mediterranean Sea heading towards Italy on Thursday (April 6) twenty-five Syrian refugees spoke of the horrors they encountered before and after leaving their country.
    The group were picked up from a rickety boat carrying 120 people by the Phoenix rescue ship, operated by the Malta-based non-governmental organisation MOAS, on Wednesday (April 5).
    The Syrians said they were forced to leave their homeland in fear for their lives but their journey to safety took them through Libya where their lives were endangered again. One of the group was an unaccompanied 15-year-old boy who could not hide his distress as he spoke of the family he had left behind.
    The group said they had not heard about a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town in northern Syria earlier in the week which killed at least 70 people, nor about the U.S. missile strikes that came in response. But they were relieved to be arriving in Sicily, where they will be registered and most likely given refugee status and where they can begin to look forward to a life without fear.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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