Volunteer Team Ploughs Med Looking For Stranded Migrants

خبر ها - افغانستان

شنبه 21 حمل 1395 ساعت 20:54 نوشته شده توسط Parwiz Shamal

Translations pending.

As hundreds of asylum seekers continue to cross the Mediterranean Sea in their bid to reach Greece from Turkey, coastguards and rescue teams work tirelessly to prevent tragedies.

Recently, TOLOnews correspondent Parwiz Shamal joined a volunteer rescue team, who along with Greek and Turkish coastal guards as well as NATO warships, patrol these waters daily.

This group of Spanish volunteers, with their Palestinian interpreters, work day and night to help migrants stranded at sea.

One of the rescuers, Pablo, told TOLOnews: "We are going on a mission to rescue stuck immigrants and to help those who need our help."

"We track boats with a devise, but rubber dinghies are difficult to spot because they are very small and are made completely from rubber. They don't have any metal, which makes them difficult to detect," said the group's coordinator.

Within two hours of going out to sea, the group detected a motor boat that had run in to trouble. On board were a group of Afghan refugees.

On reaching the boat, the volunteers found the boat had run aground on rocks in Greek waters. After successfully getting the boat off the rocks, the rescue team informed the Greek coast guards.

"We found a fast boat in northeast of this area with over 30 people on board," said a member of the group.

A few minutes later, coast guards arrive and after verifying the rescue team's story, they speak to the refugees, before accompanying the boat to shore.

On board had been 19 men, seven women and eight children. All were registered on landing in Greece and transferred to a camp.

On arrival, the immigrants immediately expressed their happiness at finally having made it to Europe, but the question is whether that happiness will last once they realize that life in the camps is difficult.

"We found them and it was an easy operation. For us it's work and it gives us a good feeling," said one of the group's members.

More than 3,500 people drowned in Mediterranean waters in 2015, including Afghans. This year nearly 600 people have lost their lives on their way to Europe.

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