Alaa Hamoudi was adrift in the Aegean sea and thought he was going to die. The orange dinghy – the only hope for him and 21 other people – was starting to sink, while desperate passengers threw their bags overboard. “I thought I wouldn’t survive, I was close to death,” the the 22-year-old Syrian said.
Only the day before, it seemed he was starting a new life. After landing on the Greek island of Samos soon after dawn on 28 April 2020, he and his fellow passengers had trudged up the steep coastal path, searching for Greek police, in order to claim asylum. “I was just so happy to leave everything behind,” said Hamoudi, who fled his Damascus home aged 12, moved to Lebanon, then Turkey, and hoped to reach Germany to be reunited with his father.
It did not go to plan. Instead, Greek authorities returned the refugees to shore, put them in an inflatable boat with no motor or navigation equipment, and towed it to sea, Hamoudi said.
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