The interview was held by Ilias Maravas for EPA Aigaiou
I remember that I arrived at the shore. I looked for them but I couldn’t find anyone. Then I remember that I woke up in the hospital.
The only survivor of the refugee tragedy of Friday near Lesvos island is a 16-year-old from Bamiyan in Afghanistan. He had entered a dinghy with 28 other Afghans on Friday when after one hour the dinghy started getting into distress and water entered the boat. It turned around and they all fell into the sea.
– What happened that night?
+ We started around 19:30 from Istanbul and around approx. 2 in the night we arrived at the Turkish shore. We entered a dinghy – similar to the ones you use for fishing. There were a lot of waves. The dinghy had a whole and water entered. Waves hit our boat and we fell into the sea.
– How many persons were you?
+ We were 30 persons – among us two women and one small child. There were also to Turkish people with us.
– Did you all wear life vests?
+ Yes, all of us.
– Did you see any other boat around yours?
+ No, there was none.
– What do you remember from the moment you fell into the sea?
+ I stayed in the water for about five hours. We were swimming together with some others for about two hours. Then I lost them. I remember arriving at the shore. I tried finding them, but I couldn’t see any of them. Then I only remember waking up in the hospital.