INTL Greek navy sinks boat full of Syrian refugees

[MinnesotaSmith]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...n-Turkish-waters-fishermans-film-alleges.html

Greek coast guard 'deliberately' sunk migrant boat in Turkish waters, fisherman's film alleges
A film shot by Turkish fishermen shot a few days ago apparently shows Greek coast guard vessel leaving an overloaded inflatable boat of Syrians to sink after "piercing it with a lance" in Turkish waters



By Nick Squires, Rome, Henry Samuel, Paris and Matthew Holehouse, Brussels.

14 Aug 2015

A Greek coast guard vessel allegedly sank a rubber dinghy full of Syrian refugees, including women and children, according to film footage shot by Turkish fishermen.

The footage, which was reportedly recorded a few days ago and obtained by Turkish media, suggests that the Greeks sank the migrant boat with some sort of “lance”.

The inflatable boat had just left the Turkish coast, just a few miles from the Greek islands of Kos and Lesbos, where thousands of Syrians and other refugees have landed in recent weeks.

As the Greek patrol vessel moved away from the area, one of the fishermen can be heard saying: “The boat is deflating, the boat’s taking on water and there are people on board.”

He then added: “The boat was pierced by what looks like a long lance.”

The footage then showed migrants in the water as the boat gradually sank.

The fishermen went to the rescue of the Syrians – said to be around 50 – and then called the Turkish coast guard, who eventually took the refugees back to the Turkish coast.

The footage could not be independently verified. When the coast guard for the island of Chios was contacted, they told the Telegraph they were not aware of any reports.

The Greek coast guard said it had gone to the rescue of nearly 600 refugees and migrants on Thursday and Friday, in 21 separate incidents off the Aegean islands of Kos, Rhodes, Chios, Samothraki and Lesbos.

An unprecedented 125,000 refugees and migrants have reached a string of eastern Aegean islands so far this year – a 750 per cent increase on last year.

The Aegean route has become more popular because Turkey has successfully curbed traffickers’ attempts to send large numbers of refugees directly to Italy in so-called “ghost ships” – second-hand merchant vessels crewed by the smugglers and then left to drift towards the Italian coast.

The world is facing the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War, with more than 50 million people driven from their homes by wars in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and civil conflict and political persecution in Africa, the EU said.

“Today the world finds itself facing the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War," said Dimitris Avramopoulos, the EU’s migration commissioner.

Speaking after a visit to Athens, he said the situation in Greece was “particularly urgent”.

Greece would soon receive a contribution of €30 million (£21 million) from a total disbursement of €2.4 billion of funding for EU member states to cope with the flood of migrants until 2020.

The money is intended to be used to build reception centres and accelerate efforts to deport migrants who are refused entry.

The EU is pushing European leaders to take part in a distribution quota, but a mandatory plan was torpedoed by national leaders last month.

On the island of Kos, where police used fire extinguishers and truncheons this week to control large crowds of refugees penned into an old stadium, a large passenger ferry arrived in order to provide better accommodation.

Many migrants had been sleeping rough in parks and squares, in conditions that have earned the Greek authorities severe criticism from humanitarian organisations.

The ferry, which can accommodate up to 2,500 people, will be used as of Saturday as a floating dormitory and screening centre where Syrians can stay as they wait for temporary travel documents to leave the island and head to Athens.

Islanders on Kos have donated food and clothing to the refugees, despite the acute economic crisis their country is going through.

"We are gathering money, despite our limited capability. There are many anonymous Kos citizens, even poor people, who help the refugees despite their nearly non-existent resources," said Giorgos Kyritsis, the island’s mayor, as he fought back tears.

He said around 800 refugees and migrants were arriving each day on Kos, many of them in flimsy dinghies normally sold to the tourists who flock to the island.

 

[Milk-maid]

Tough spot for the Greeks to be in considering their own situation is so dire.

 

[fishdawg]

Anyone see the opening scenes of Enemy At the Gate?

 

[Jonas Parker]

Good for the Greek Navy!

 

[mzkitty]

34m
IMF calls for Greek debt relief after bailout approved - @BBCNews

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33945263


17m
Photo: Rescue effort in Mediterranean after 40 people suffocate in hold - @BuzzFeedNews


3h
300 people rescued from migrant boat in which 40 died in hold, Italian navy says - @AP
End of alert

 

[almost ready]

Turks accusing Greeks?

hmmmm

 

[MinnesotaSmith]

Related...

 

[hiwall]

When will countries figure out that illegal immigration is destroying their countries?
I know they will figure it out when it is waaay too late.

It will end up being a one world order by default.

 

[jed turtle]

just dig a ditch 20' wide, 20' deep, fill it with all our radioactive waste from Texas to California...

Europe is being invaded for the final scene in the Islamic War to conquer the world. their leaders have already sold out, being the pedophiles that they are.

 

[hunybee]

i see a big difference between pedro and a boat of syrian refugees.

i don't say "way to go greek coast guard", but i see their situation. it isn't pretty for themselves right now, either. where else can there true refugees go? it is sucky for everyone involved there, and i sure don't want to be in either position. not the syrian refugees, nor the islanders that can barely feed themselves, yet are still giving something to help them.

there but by the grace of God go i


people do realize that those are most likely christians that are fleeing being killed or worse, right?

 

[Medical Maven]

The shooting of migrants at sea will either come sooner or later. And if it is later, it will mean that it is too late for the societies that are already swamped by a Fifth Column of welfare leeches and terrorists who will NEVER, NEVER assimilate. And that Fifth Column will eventually purge, without any qualms, the natives of those countries that they INVADED.

Nations without borders are Dead Men Walking. Such as it has been since the beginning of History.

 

[Melodi]

The problem is that most of the people now fleeing to Europe are running from places in Syria and Iraq that have been over-run by ISIS and the horrific warfare going on there (there are also people fleeing the war torn parts of Ukraine and of course the usual young men who are always trying to get into Europe for work). The difference now is the huge portion of women and children who just feel that what they are leaving is certain slavery and death, so risking their lives at sea and living in a tent in the EU seems like step up.

If the Greek NAVY did this (and it is a big story over here, of course they deny it) but if they actually sunk a boat with women and children on it; murdering them ALIVE, then things have reach a whole new level. It is one thing to simply ignore boats in trouble, which is technically a violation of ancient sea agreements but sadly often practiced in this situation. And you can't really blame people who might not even have boats, for not dashing into the water from their island homes to try and rescue people way out at sea at the risk of their own lives; especially when they have so many refugees already they can't feed, house or support them.

But actually blowing such ships out of the water is a whole different level of "violation" of the ancient agreements that have traditionally mandated that except during war time (and even them sometimes) a ship not in distress, will rescue sailors who are in distress. Of course this doesn't always happen and people like pirates have always violated it, but in is a found principle that has lasted more or less intact through the centuries especially when it comes to things like peace time Navel vessels or even commercial ships that see another ship in distress.

Things really are getting so bad in Greece though, especially some of the other islands, that I can't say this totally surprises or shocks me either; the Greeks have been begging for help from the EU and pretty getting a zero response, except to rap their knuckles a bit for letting the refugees head towards the Greek border and away from Greece.

A few days ago, hundreds of people were locked in a football stadium with no food or water for more than 24 hours, the doctors from Doctors without Borders were forced to withdraw from the situation for a day because it got too dangerous though it was their complaints and calling attention to the problem that finally got food and water in, when many people had fainted and desperately needed medical care.

Again, I can see both sides of this; tiny villages on small island suddenly swamped by hundreds or thousands of people the can't stop, can't feed and don't know what do to with so they round them up and lock them in the foot ball stadium; no easy answers here.

But the EU as a whole has got to get a handle on this situation and come up with some sort of plan (or plans) which could be anything from tent cities to Naval blockades but if they don't; I don't think this will be the last ship sunk and eventually the boats even the ones with infants in arms at the front, may be met by people with guns. It would not be the first time in history something like that happened, I hope it doesn't come to that here.

 

[Melodi]

Oh and yes, while these are people of all faiths and backgrounds a lot of them are Syrian Christians, and other Christian or minority groups (like tradition Pagans, or Eastern Rite Christians in the Ukraine) also mixed in are Christians from Africa (as well as of course some Muslims).

 

[MinnesotaSmith]

i see a big difference between pedro and a boat of syrian refugees.

i don't say "way to go greek coast guard", but i see their situation. it isn't pretty for themselves right now, either. where else can there true refugees go? it is sucky for everyone involved there, and i sure don't want to be in either position. not the syrian refugees, nor the islanders that can barely feed themselves, yet are still giving something to help them.

there but by the grace of God go i


people do realize that those are most likely christians that are fleeing being killed or worse, right?

So give them rifles, ammo, some RPGs, and send them back to fight for their homelands.

 

[Palmetto]

Melodi,

Where in the OP did you read the sinking resulted in death??? I read they were rescued by local fisherman and the Turkish Coast Guard.

Seeing both sides?

Seems like emoting and sensationalism to me.

Countries have the right to protect their borders. BTW, why don't the Turks take them?

Palmetto

 

[fishdawg]

Is it just me or is anyone else getting tired of whining, see both sides crybabies. Hey, how would it be if Eire got INUNDATED with 3rd world garbage? Don't even begin to talk about the Somalis or other groups in small numbers who crawled there. Here are the stats: Irish (including dual-Irish/other): 86.9%, UK: 2.5%, Other EU 27: 6.1%, Other Europe: 0.7%, Asia: 1.5%, Africa: 0.9%, USA: 0.2%, Other countries: 0.5%, Multiple nationality: 0.1%, Not stated: 1.2% (2011). Downright white nation! Those being the facts, you're not being invaded like the rest of Europe or the United States. Maybe that's why you went there... Yeah I'm a mean,sometimes hateful bastard, but I, like you, have my opinion.

 

[Melodi]

Melodi,

Where in the OP did you read the sinking resulted in death??? I read they were rescued by local fisherman and the Turkish Coast Guard.

Seeing both sides?

Seems like emoting and sensationalism to me.

Countries have the right to protect their borders. BTW, why don't the Turks take them?

Palmetto

Sorry, I am probably confusing my stories, I read about six different ones this morning in various on-line papers...there was also a boat with 200 dead bodies found on but the rest of the folks were recused I think I confused them. Many, many boats...

 

[MinnesotaSmith]

That one's easy...

BTW, why don't the Turks take them?

As noted by other posters, many of those refugees are not Muslim.
Likewise, Turkey is not that prosperous these days, and hardly wants a bunch of broke people moving in.

 

[Medical Maven]

http://news.yahoo.com/europes-migrat...142629502.html

Nations across Europe are struggling to provide food, shelter and other assistance to the tens of thousands of migrants arriving by sea or land. Here are the latest developments Friday:

Related Stories

Mediterranean migrant crossings this year near 250,000 Associated Press

Amnesty International: migrant rights in Austria violated Associated Press

EU to Step Up Aid to Countries Struggling With Migrants The Wall Street Journal

Greek police on Kos race to ease number of stuck refugees Associated Press

Hungary's answer to burgeoning flows of refugees: a wall Christian Science Monitor

GREECE: A passenger ferry that can hold 2,500 people has reached the Greek holiday island of Kos to provide temporary accommodation and act as a screening center for crowds of Syrian refugees sleeping rough after crossing from Turkey in flimsy boats.

The Eleftherios Venizelos will begin work Saturday, replacing an old stadium criticized for its lack of basic amenities.

Major-General Zacharoula Tsirigoti, head of the Greek police's aliens and border protection branch, said all the Syrians who had arrived on Kos by late Thursday have now been screened. She said the ferry will stay on for about two weeks to cater to new arrivals.

At least two rubber boats safely made the 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) crossing from Turkey early Friday, but the Greek coast guard said it rescued nearly 600 refugees and migrants at sea, in 21 separate incidents.

___


HUNGARY: In the Balkans, migrants taking the overland route to the EU are dashing to try to cross from Serbia into EU member Hungary before the Hungarian government finishes building a razor-wire fence.

Some 1,000 migrants per day tried to cross before Hungary announced plans for the fence a few months ago. That number has shot up to 1,500.

Among them is Adnan, who gave only his first name, fearing deportation if he makes it to the West. He insists: "We are not afraid. What could be worse than the bloodshed we left behind in Syria?"

Adnan is in a group of about 50, including a 2-month-old baby and a boy whose parents drowned when their boat capsized in the Mediterranean. They didn't make it across the border this time, but they vow to try again and again.

___

AUSTRIA: Amnesty International says unaccompanied children are among more than 1,000 people camping in the open at Austria's main migrant center, and is highlighting other major rights violations caused by overcrowding at the Traiskirchen center, south of Vienna.

Members of the Amnesty team that visited the center Aug. 6 spoke of migrants seeking out shady areas of the center's grounds to escape from relentless heat, and of showers without curtains shared by both sexes. They said four doctors and three psychologists, working only a few hours a day, are responsible for the care of the more than 4,000 people at Traiskirchen.

"Showers for women were organized like a peep-show," says Amnesty Austria head Heinz Patzelt. "I am unspeakably angry."

In a statement, the Interior Ministry, acknowledged a "precarious situation" at the center, describing it as an "extraordinary situation" resulting from a surge of migrants seeking asylum.

___

STATISTICS: The International Organization for Migration says the number of migrants and asylum-seekers who have crossed the Mediterranean this year will pass the quarter-million mark by the end of the month — more than half of those arriving in Greece.

The Geneva-based IOM said Friday that financially struggling Greece has reported 134,988 arrivals from Turkey this year, while Italy recorded 93,540 newcomers up to the end of July. Adding in arrivals in Spain and Malta, the group says that 237,000 people have made the crossing in 2015.

The figure for the whole of last year was 219,000.

The IOM estimates that at least 2,300 people have died trying to make the crossing this year.

Comment: So they have roughly one in a hundred chance of dying. That ratio needs to increase to one in ten to stanch the flow. Then it becomes like Russian Roulette. Same thing needs to happen on the U.S. southern border. And we need to stop the welfare for the people who get into this country. Same for the EU.

 

[Be Well]

i see a big difference between pedro and a boat of syrian refugees.

i don't say "way to go greek coast guard", but i see their situation. it isn't pretty for themselves right now, either. where else can there true refugees go? it is sucky for everyone involved there, and i sure don't want to be in either position. not the syrian refugees, nor the islanders that can barely feed themselves, yet are still giving something to help them.

there but by the grace of God go i


people do realize that those are most likely christians that are fleeing being killed or worse, right?

There are vast numbers of moslems getting into EU right now. As well as a smaller number of Christians. I wish non profit orgs would get all the Christians out who want to leave and keep them separate. In the migrant/refugee camps or housing, the moslems are still horrible to the few Christians.

 

[hiwall]

A quarter million per year for all of Europe is nothing compared to just the ones that cross the US southern border every year. In 2004 DHS estimated the number of illegals that crossed at 4 million. In 2005 that number went up to 5 million.
After 2005 the number is not found due I think to it being politically incorrect to publish the estimates.

 

[NoName]

just dig a ditch 20' wide, 20' deep, fill it with all our radioactive waste from Texas to California...

Europe is being invaded for the final scene in the Islamic War to conquer the world. their leaders have already sold out, being the pedophiles that they are.

We have one, it's called The Rio Grande River.

 

[TerryK]

When will people realize that an invasion of illegals and refugees from another country, accomplishes the same thing as an invading army.
Qaddafi himself said that "we do not need to send armies of soldiers to Europe, we don't have to fire a single shot, we will conquer you with poor refugees having many children"
Until people with bleeding hearts somehow find the courage to confront this threat that is every bit as real as terrorism, they will lose and willingly give up their countries.
The only way for the countries of Europe to stop this is to do whatever it takes to convince a refugee on the southern coast of the Mediterranean that they will never reach Europe alive.
The only way for the US to stop the flood of illegals coming into this country is convince every last one of them that illegally crossing the border into the US will not end well for them.
Until both the US and Europe find the courage to do this they will continue to give away their country just as surely as if it were and invading army, because it is.

As far as the Greek Navy sinking an inflatable... No Problem.

 

[Be Well]

When will people realize that an invasion of illegals and refugees from another country, accomplishes the same thing as an invading army.
Qaddafi himself said that "we do not need to send armies of soldiers to Europe, we don't have to fire a single shot, we will conquer you with poor refugees having many children"
Until people with bleeding hearts somehow find the courage to confront this threat that is every bit as real as terrorism, they will lose and willingly give up their countries.
The only way for the countries of Europe to stop this is to do whatever it takes to convince a refugee on the southern coast of the Mediterranean that they will never reach Europe alive.
The only way for the US to stop the flood of illegals coming into this country is convince every last one of them that illegally crossing the border into the US will not end well for them.
Until both the US and Europe find the courage to do this they will continue to give away their country just as surely as if it were and invading army, because it is.

As far as the Greek Navy sinking an inflatable... No Problem.

Yes. And it is not really separate from Islamist takeover and terrorism, it's a continuum.

 

[Dozdoats]

Next to being dead, the last thing you want to be is a refugee.

Find a place, and bug in ... while you can.

Until people with bleeding hearts somehow find the courage to confront this threat that is every bit as real as terrorism, they will lose and willingly give up their countries.

Until people with a grasp on REALITY find the courage to confront THEIR OWN "bleeding heart" people, they will be giving up their own countries.

 

[zeker]

you want to stay in my country?

FIRST THING.. sterilization.

next.. you will learn the language fluently within 6 months. if not.. bye bye...

next.. you will get employment..

any illegal activity.. deportation and NO GETTING BACK.

if you are caught attempting to leave the country as your 6 month 'grace' period is up.. deporatation back to where you came from with all family members.

we spent the money on you in good faith. if you cannot reciprocate by assimilation.. goodbye.

you came to us.. we didnt ask, but we tried to be be fair.

when a small town/country is bombarded with refugees, and SOME of the countrymen want to 'help' them.

have those same 'countrymen' open THIER homes to house these refugees.

if a town of 10k is inundated by 50k, each bleeding heart will take their proportion.

 

[Melodi]

The problem is, a lot of these people are from places where they could not "bug in" and none of us probably could either (except in a well hidden underground bunker, perhaps for years). No one ever wants to be a real refugee which sadly at the moment, a whole lot of these people are; many are fleeing the ISIS controlled areas of Syria and often got out in their cars or on foot right before the guys showed up to shoot the men, rape their wives and either marry or enslave their daughters.

Not everyone of course, one thing that makes this migration crises so desperate is that mixed in are all the young men (and a few women) who during any given year are likely to try and sneak into Europe for work or even benefits, they do exist no one who looks at this can deny that. However, the numbers speak for themselves instead of a few thousand mostly young men (and a few families) coming into Greece or Italy over a several year period; now there is a flood of displaced people not seen since the second World War.

And they are flooding into a collapsing State that can't even feed its own people and is practically an EU Colony already; with no resources to provide for them and really no way to stop them either; Italy has some of this problem as well, as does Spain; but Greece is the primary destination of the traffickers.

The only things I can think of that might help would be massive refugee camps set up in North Africa and the Eastern European borders with the EU; similar to what was done in Asia after View Nam and also after WWII; where people are settled in tents or temporary structures and their cases vetted to at least separate out the young migrants from the fleeing refugee families. Then, as has been done in the past, the only way forward is a combination of voluntary resettlement all over the world (not just one place) and/or a place to settle them (a country agrees to provide a place of settlement for an entire group or something).

Others are allowed to "wait it out" with charitable and UN support until things either return to "normal" at home (aka ISIS or the Taliban are defeated, it is safe to return)or they end up spending their lives in the camps.

It is of course this last problem that is the reason why no North African country wants to go this route; they don't really want camps set up on their coastlines that turn into multi-generational heck holes; but the only other "solution" is similar camps on the Greek and EU sides which are already happening both officially and unofficially.

The Camp outside Paris just featured on the BBC Sunday Faith program with a service from a church set up by some of the Christian refugees there; these camps are morphing into unofficial towns, no matter what the governments, local law enforcement or immigration may think about it.

Yep, they can round people up and put them in official camps, which probably is the better way forward but that won't stop the human tide from coming; as long as people are pushed out of where they are and too terrified to return and if where I lived were taken over by ISIS or the middle of the Ukraine I would be; they will just keep coming.

They can go after the traffickers and should (that would help) but the geography of the area means that desperate people, really desperate people could (and will) build rafts and buy fishing boats to try it anyway. They can slow things down, they could "try" blowing ships out of the water but unless the EU is willing to actually murder women and children as they walk onto the beaches (which I am not suggesting for a moment) another way forward has to be found.

 

[MinnesotaSmith]

Good, but I'd add...

you want to stay in my country?

FIRST THING.. sterilization.

next.. you will learn the language fluently within 6 months. if not.. bye bye...

next.. you will get employment..

any illegal activity.. deportation and NO GETTING BACK.

if you are caught attempting to leave the country as your 6 month 'grace' period is up.. deporatation back to where you came from with all family members.

we spent the money on you in good faith. if you cannot reciprocate by assimilation.. goodbye.

you came to us.. we didnt ask, but we tried to be be fair.

when a small town/country is bombarded with refugees, and SOME of the countrymen want to 'help' them.

have those same 'countrymen' open THIER homes to house these refugees.

if a town of 10k is inundated by 50k, each bleeding heart will take their proportion.

1) Have a 110 IQ if you're European race, or 125 if not, or you can't get in.

2) You either can't be Muslim to begin with (the ideal), or have to verifiably give it up to stay here. (Am thinking there are probably brain wave tests just about available to check this, the way that homos and pedos can often be picked out.)

3) No one with a disability gets in (well, a 140 IQ scientist/engineer who can still work, probably ok).

4) No one with HIV gets in. (No queers or lesbos, either; we already have too many.)

5) Sterilize only the non-Northern/Central Europeans. (Albanians, Bosnians, yes, PLEASE sterilize them; they're wogs.)

 

[Be Well]

They can go after the traffickers and should (that would help) but the geography of the area means that desperate people, really desperate people could (and will) build rafts and buy fishing boats to try it anyway. They can slow things down, they could "try" blowing ships out of the water but unless the EU is willing to actually murder women and children as they walk onto the beaches (which I am not suggesting for a moment) another way forward has to be found.

If all the poor and desperate people come to the US and the EU, the US and the EU will be utterly destroyed. Or even 1/10 of all the desperate and poor people. It cannot be done.

 

[Dozdoats]

The problem is, a lot of these people are from places where they could not "bug in"

Mel,

That was addressed to people in the FUSA ... not all over the world.

It was in the early 2000s that I first heard the term "failed state." A friend of mine, then an active duty captain in US Army Civil Affairs, had just returned to Fort Bragg from some big hooraw conference in DeeCee and brought back a sheaf of reports and papers with him. He was kind enough to give me a one over the world review of the conference and let me read the papers.

Well, the FUSA already IS a failed state ... just, in zombie fashion, it's still staggering along. What we are playing right now is a planetary game of Lifeboat. As long as people flee from evil, this is the way things will go.

And as old Jeff Cooper was wont to say ... evil is not overcome by fleeing from it. Read more Cooper at http://dvc.org.uk/jeff/

-- from https://www.etsy.com/listing/96274413/keep-calm-and-shoot-straight-poster-5x7

Or lose your country...

 

[Melodi]

If all the poor and desperate people come to the US and the EU, the US and the EU will be utterly destroyed. Or even 1/10 of all the desperate and poor people. It cannot be done.

True, but the US (like some of Eastern Europe) is a land border and if there was the will to do so, walls and actual borders fences could be built - I mean there was never a fence the entire way across Northern Ireland but there could have been. But the defenses were still pretty impressive when we first move here; Hungary without the support of the EU is going ahead and building their own; the US could do the same thing if they wished to take on the expense and other issues that would go with such a wall.

I am not saying the US should build a wall but the point is they could.

That simply isn't possibly with the entire Mediterranean Sea, it just isn't; so another solution has to be found and pretty quickly...

 

[dogmanan]

Bullshit let the dam people stay in the country they want to leave and fight for their f//king life like most other people of the world have done through out history, f//k this running shit, stay and fight and become free or die trying, you f//king cry babies.

That's what the hell I'm going to do here when the time comes no pussy running for me.

 

[Melodi]

Migrants being raped, shot and tortured on desperate journeys to Europe, doctor reveals

'It feels like working in a warzone,' a doctor working in Italy said
Lizzie Dearden

Saturday 15 August 2015

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...urneys-to-europe-doctor-reveals-10457130.html

Migrants are being raped, shot and tortured during their desperate journeys to Europe even before they risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean, a doctor has revealed.

Anna Crepet, who works for medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), said treating the thousands of men, women and children arriving in Italy feels “like working in a warzone”.

Speaking in the Sicilian port of Pozzallo, where MSF medics work at boat landings and in reception centres, she told The Independent most migrants go untreated for potentially fatal injuries until they reach safety. Anna Crepet, an MSF doctor, examining a young Eritrean man at the CPSA in Pozzallo Anna Crepet, an MSF doctor, said treating migrants was like 'working in a warzone'

“Sometimes it feels like we’re working in a warzone but here I think it’s even worse, because we see injuries that haven’t been treated for weeks,” Dr Crepet said.

“We see lots of fractures through beating, lots of gunshot wounds. We find bullets in muscles and under the skin.”

She recounted how one man arrived in Sicily with a hole through one thigh where a bullet had passed through and become embedded in his other leg.

But some injuries are harder to spot. Dr Crepet said almost all women who make the journey from their homes in Africa or the Middle East are raped along the way, often arriving several months pregnant.


“They tend to say very little about what they've been through but sometimes we see scars and wounds from rape,” she said.

“We know that most of the women who come here alone must have been raped - and a lot of women arrive on their own."

Dr Crepet likened some of the stories she had heard to torture, telling of migrants being gang-raped in front of their loved ones by their captors in Libya.

“Men or women, it doesn't matter,” she said. “We've seen 13-year-olds who have been raped."

Many migrants tell doctors similar stories of being kidnapped, held hostage and beaten in Libya by gangs demanding money.

But even before they get to the lawless country, where most smugglers’ boats are launched towards Italy, people coming from sub-Saharan Africa or the Middle East are driven for weeks through the desert in overcrowded pick-up trucks. Migrants sit on the open cargo of pick-up trucks, holding wooden sticks tied to the vehicle to avoid falling from it, as they leave the outskirts of Agadez for Libya (AFP) Migrants sit on the open cargo of pick-up trucks, holding wooden sticks tied to the vehicle to avoid falling from it, as they leave the outskirts of Agadez for Libya (AFP)

Dr Crepet said the Sahara was “one of the deadliest parts of the journey”, with many migrants being murdered or dying in car accidents or of dehydration.

She met one Eritrean man with an amputated leg who was run over when he fell out of an open lorry and could not stand back up on the sand.

He survived and was treated for his severe injuries in Sicily but many others are lost, often with their deaths going unreported.

A 17-year-old Palestinian boy who journeyed to Italy from Gaza earlier this year told Save the Children workers how three people thrown off the truck he was in were left behind to die in the desert.

“They gave us water to drink out of a can but it was mixed with petrol,” Yusuf said. “We were allowed to eat once a day…some people died during this trip from hunger and thirst.”

Yusuf, 17, waits along with 87 other unaccompanied children on the docks of Lampedusa, Italy, to be transported to Sicily Yusuf, 17, saw people die of starvation on the journey from Sudan to Libya

Another teenager, from Somalia, told the charity how he travelled through the desert with women who were raped and forced to perform sex acts on smugglers as they drove.

“One of the women who was raped was seven months pregnant,” Ismail said.

“When she came back to the group took a scarf and tried to strangle herself but luckily we stopped her.”

When he reached Libya, he and other migrants were kidnapped by uniformed men and imprisoned in an apartment until they paid an extra $300 (£200).

“We weren't able to speak amongst ourselves and we were constantly beaten without any motive,” he said. The teenager was held for a month before his mother wired the money they demanded.

Dr Crepet said injured migrants in Libya are too afraid of going to hospitals because of rumours that they will be killed or handed over to police and militias.

African immigrants gather outside a building used as a shelter at Janzur Port just outside Tripoli African immigrants gather outside a building used as a shelter at Janzur Port just outside Tripoli

“The people we see are survivors but many wouldn't survive because you need to be really robust and strong to be able to get through the desert, get through Libya and then get on a boat and be at sea with no leg or a bad injury, stuck for days on a boat,” she added.

“I’m always amazed to see how they survived but we don’t know how many have died along the way.

“In Libya they’re not treated like human beings, they’re treated like animals. There is a word in Arabic that the smugglers use, they call the migrants beasts.”

Dr Crepet treated one man with gashes on his arms who had been slashed by smugglers using him as an “example” of what would happen to other migrants if they did not pay up.

Coffins with the bodies of dead migrants are disembarked from the Irish Navy vessel Le Niamh, in the harbor of Palermo, Sicily, Italy, Thursday, 6 August 2015 More than 200 migrants died when a boat capsized off the coast of Libya on 5 August

She has been working in Pozzallo since January and was previously based with MSF in the nearby port of Augusta.

Dr Crepet, who is Italian but trained at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and has worked at several NHS hospitals, estimated that she must have treated thousands of migrants.

She is one of dozens of MSF doctors stationed in Sicily checking people as they arrive in ports, then at reception centres and clinics, as well as educating them about infection control and hygiene.

The medic described her job as “intense” and extremely demanding, both emotionally and professionally, while overcoming language barriers and cultural differences.

“But the people you treat are amazing patients, they’re the best I could have,” Dr Crepet said.

MSF also has three boats helping search efforts in the Mediterranean, including one that rescued more than 200 people on Saturday.

A record number of migrants are expected to cross the sea to reach Europe this year and at least 2,000 have died making the voyage so far.

 

[dogmanan]

What was it like 40 million plus killed by the ss and Nazis in ww2 , if every group of 20 people being round up would have fought back and killed a couple of the ss and Nazis every day the dam Nazis would have been wiped out in less then a year and the war over.

Think about that when you want to pussy run.

 

[MinnesotaSmith]

What was it like 40 million plus killed by the ss and Nazis in ww2 , if every group of 20 people being round up would have fought back and killed a couple of the ss and Nazis every day the dam Nazis would have been wiped out in less then a year and the war over.

Think about that when you want to pussy run.

You're forgetting that the Einsatzgruppen had loads of very willing volunteer help rounding up and killing Jews from the Ukrainians, Croats, even Poles and Russians.

 

[Scrapman]

The Turks are to blame. They facilitate the whole process. Anyone that doesn't see this must be retarded. Where was the Turkish coast guard during this time. They were watching .

 

[Straycat]

There are NO "win/win" answers to this problem. There are no happy endings.

For all that the First World nations are "rich" countries, our resources are still finite. Even if every single one of us across the US, Canada, and Europe shared 50/50 with a migrant, it still would not be enough.

In the end, it doesn't matter what religion, sex, or age the people fleeing are, or what they're fleeing from. It doesn't matter how sorry we feel for their plight. We can't fix this. We can't save everybody. The destination countries will only survive AS countries by protecting their own at the expense of the outsiders. The choice will - very simply - come down to deciding which one of us dies.

 

[MinnesotaSmith]

Well put...

There are NO "win/win" answers to this problem. There are no happy endings.

For all that the First World nations are "rich" countries, our resources are still finite. Even if every single one of us across the US, Canada, and Europe shared 50/50 with a migrant, it still would not be enough.

In the end, it doesn't matter what religion, sex, or age the people fleeing are, or what they're fleeing from. It doesn't matter how sorry we feel for their plight. We can't fix this. We can't save everybody. The destination countries will only survive AS countries by protecting their own at the expense of the outsiders. The choice will - very simply - come down to deciding which one of us dies.

Good classic if imperfect article on "Lifeboat Ethics" by the late Garrett Hardin:

http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles/art_lifeboat_ethics_case_against_helping_poor.html

 

[dogmanan]

You're forgetting that the Einsatzgruppen had loads of very willing volunteer help rounding up and killing Jews from the Ukrainians, Croats, even Poles and Russians.

OK

Well if when they went out every day to round up people some of them got killed how long do you think they would have keep volunteering to do the job.

 

[Be Well]

True, but the US (like some of Eastern Europe) is a land border and if there was the will to do so, walls and actual borders fences could be built - I mean there was never a fence the entire way across Northern Ireland but there could have been. But the defenses were still pretty impressive when we first move here; Hungary without the support of the EU is going ahead and building their own; the US could do the same thing if they wished to take on the expense and other issues that would go with such a wall.

I am not saying the US should build a wall but the point is they could.

That simply isn't possibly with the entire Mediterranean Sea, it just isn't; so another solution has to be found and pretty quickly...

If the "host" countries stop giving the migrants/illegals/etc support, they will stop coming, guaranteed. There is no other way. I remember also when Europe used to have actual borders, with little guard houses, and soldiers with guns. And you HAD to stop. My family was turned away at the Bulgarian border once, meant driving for hours in the dark.

It is not impossible to make actual borders again. The only thing lacking is the will.

And then the $$$$ spent on migrants/illegals or whatever one wants to call them, can be spent bombing the shit out of the crap "leaders" that are turning those countries into hellholes that people want to escape from.