Crossing no more . Chris Jones & Sofiane Ait Chalalet. All Rights Reserved.The summer is coming to an end. The weather here on Samos continues to be sunny and by midday the temperatures can be in the low 30s. But the evenings and nights are getting colder. In the past 10 days six refugees that we know of have died whilst trying to get to Samos from Turkey.
In a few weeks we can expect this number to rise as the weather and sea cool. We regularly meet with refugees when they land on the beaches. They are nearly always soaked through. The rubber inflatables are so overloaded that they quickly flood. They are not good quality which leads to them being easily punctured by a sharp buckle or belt. The engines, already without enough power, often run out of fuel. The result is that the sea journey is nearly always wet, terrifying and arduous when you have to paddle with your arms and hands to keep moving on. This journey is bad enough in the summer but in the winter? It is much worse.
We have made this point on many occasions but why are the refugees denied safe passage on the 3 to 4 ferries that arrive daily from Turkey to Samos during these summer months? We sit with the refugees in the ports of the islands within a 100 metres of these ferries. What should we do? Ignore this reality? How can we?
