"All we really want is to stay in a really safe place" migrants say onboard rescue boat in the Mediterranean

Record ID: 896237

  • Title: "All we really want is to stay in a really safe place" migrants say onboard rescue boat in the Mediterranean
  • Date: 20th June 2017
  • Summary: AT SEA (JUNE 19, 2017) (REUTERS) RESCUE BOAT CARRYING MIGRANTS HEADING TOWARDS ITALY VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS LOOKING OUT TO SEA MIGRANT WITH TOWEL WRAPPED AROUND HEAD FEELING SEASICK VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS ON DECK MIGRANT FEELING SEASICK MIGRANTS ON DECK MIGRANTS LYING ON DECK LOOKING INTO SKY MIGRANT WIPING HIS HEAD AND FACE BANDAGED WRIST/MIGRANT LOOKING AT CAMERA FAMILY FROM CHAD ON DECK BABY DAUGHTER IN FATHER'S ARMS MOTHER LOOKING OUT TO SEA (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MIGRANT FROM CHAD TRAVELLING WITH WIFE AND DAUGHTER, IBRAHIM, SAYING: "There are a lot of problems in Chad. There is the group Boko Haram. There is a lot of killing and a lot of violence." MOTHER LOOKING OUT TO SEA (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MIGRANT FROM CHAD TRAVELLING WITH WIFE AND DAUGHTER, IBRAHIM, SAYING: "All we really want is to stay in a really safe place, where we can feel safe without any of these problems and any of these troubles and not be fearful for our lives. That's all we want." MIGRANT ON DECK MIGRANTS LYING ON DECK AT SEA (JUNE 20, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAVE THE CHILDREN SPOKESPERSON, SIMONA SIKIMIC, SAYING: "Last week we met a Syrian family of six with four small children and they fled Syria because of the war there and they said the situation was completely unbearable. They couldn't leave their home, the kids couldn't go to school. They had to go to Lebanon, then to Egypt and finally ended up in Libya, where they went from town to town in search of safety. But they couldn't find any and the conditions just continued to deteriorate. Eventually they said they had no choice but to just get on a boat and try and come to safety. None of them could swim, but they basically said if we are going to die at least we are going to die together. When we rescued them they were so, so happy and relieved and they said all they could hope for now was to go to Europe and have a better life and for their kids to go back to school and start learning again." AT SEA (JUNE 19, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS ON DECK (SOUNDBITE) (French) MIGRANT FROM CAMEROON, SYLVAIN KUM, SAYING: "It was very difficult for my mother to let me go. Besides me, she only has another child who is four-years-old. It was difficult for her to let go of her 20-year-old son who she will never see again, who she doesn't know if he will ever arrive. It was very difficult for my mother, she really didn't want me to go but she did in the end because I had made this decision to leave my family, my studies, everything." MIGRANTS LOOKING OUT TO SEA (SOUNDBITE) (French) MIGRANT FROM CAMEROON, SYLVAIN KUM, SAYING: "When we were on our way to Libya (from Algeria) we spent one week in the Sahara Desert it was not easy with no water, no food. We even suffered an attack from rebels and two of us died, one man from Ivory Coast and one man from Nigeria. It was very bad. The two people who died were on the same vehicle as me. I thank God that he helped me again and prevented the bullets from entering my body. Then the story of my journey continues and I found myself in Libya, in prison." VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS LOOKING OUT TO SEA AT SUNSET
  • Embargoed: 4th July 2017 11:40
  • Keywords: Migrants Refugee Day Mediterranean rescue sea
  • Location: AT SEA
  • City: AT SEA
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016M319AF
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Migrants onboard a Save the Children rescue boat out in the Mediterranean Sea said on Tuesday (June 20) they had made the perilous journey to Europe in order to find a safe place to live.
    The people onboard the Vos Hostia had been plucked from ramshackle boats on Sunday (June 18) afternoon in a weekend where at least 730 migrants had been pulled from the sea, according to the Italian coastguard.
    Most were from sub-Saharan Africa. Ibrahim from Chad was travelling with his wife and young daughter and said all he hoped for was a safe place to live after escaping the militant group Boko Haram in his home country.
    Twenty-year-old Sylvain Kum from Cameroon explained how hard it had been for his mother to let him go, not knowing if he would survive the journey and knowing they would probably never see each other again.
    Save the Children spokesperson Simona Sikimic explained how many of the migrants are forced to make the journey across the Mediterranean as there is simply no safe option in Syria or Libya for people to stay.
    Arrivals of migrants to Italy are up almost 18 percent compared to the same period last year at more than 65,000, Italy's interior ministry said.
    World Refugee Day is marked on June 20.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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