While 73 irregular migrants were rescued by the Turkish coast guard off the Marmaris district of Muğla the previous day, after the bodies of 6 irregular migrants, including babies and children, were removed from the sea, the father of children who were not yet 1 year old and died at the age of 4, Mohammad Barjas, who survived the life raft, recounted those moments.
“THEY BEAT US, DON'T EVEN GIVE US WATER”
Mohammad Barjas, whose wife and children died, described those nightmare-filled hours as follows:
"We set out from Lebanon to go to Italy with a boat. When we ran out of fuel near the Greek island, we explained the situation to the Greek coast guard teams. They took us off our boat, beat us, took our valuables, didn't even give us water. They took us on their own ships and drove around for hours, we didn't know where we were going. Then they divided us into groups and put us on life rafts. Me and my family were on the fourth life raft. Then the Greek ship made a sudden movement and a big wave overturned our boat."
"I WILL FILE A LAWSUIT AGAINST GREECE"
Barjas, who lost his wife, two children and two relatives, "The air of the boat was already deflated, they did not even put the closing plug, our struggle for life began. My wife, sister-in-law, nephew and two children, a total of five people, lost my family on the life raft I was on. The missing people who are still wanted are my uncle and my uncle's son. My wife and children held on to me and waited from night to morning, but they swallowed a lot of water, they couldn't stand it," he stated that he would file a lawsuit against Greece for his family, whom they had left to die by putting him on a boat that was not fully inflated. Finally, Berjas thanked the Turkish soldiers who took care of themselves and their bodies. A helicopter, two coast guard boats and diving teams affiliated to the Coast Guard Southern Aegean Group Command continue to search for the missing persons.