Kythira: A Syrian man was arrested allegedly as a trafficker – The testimonies of the rescued are shocking

A Syrian man was arrested in Kythira, allegedly as a trafficker, a few days after the shipwreck that occurred on the island, due to the strong winds.

The smuggler was among the survivors of the wreck. It is worth noting that he was the only one of Syrian descent. According to ERT, the rest of the migrants who were rescued came from Afghanistan.

In addition, investigations were discontinued due to adverse weather conditions, with the result that not all bodies have been collected from the sea.

Two days after the shipwreck in Kythira, the sea, disturbed by the strong winds in the area of ​​the maritime tragedy, prevents the work of the port officials to collect the bodies of seven unlucky migrants, who are floating among the wreckage.

A total of eighty migrants from Afghanistan were rescued thanks to the heroic efforts of the volunteers and the coast guard. The number of missing is estimated to be between eight and fifteen.

Shocking testimonies of survivors

According to the testimonies of the rescued, “what the traffickers did was criminal. They put 95 people on the sailboat while they had been promised that the number would not exceed 15 people.” Most they paid nine and ten thousand euros for the six day trip to Italy.

As one of the rescued said, the operator of the boat fell into the sea, making it impossible to save the passengers on the sailboat that crashed on the rocks.

“On a loft in the rocks were stacked 90 people. We managed and got eighty. If we had delayed a little longer, because the waves were too big, more would have been lost,” said Mr. Protopsaltis, who managed to rescue the migrants who were struggling from the hidden rocks with his forklift truck.

“We lowered a sack and in this way we saved them. The authorities of the island and the inhabitants of the island saved this whole world. This should be known to all. Eighty people were saved,” said Mr. Protopsaltis.

“I saw people getting lost, falling off the cliff and drowning,” the eyewitness told ERT, describing the desperate efforts of the wreckers.

“We brought a big crane to this point with a truck, we tied a big bag where we put construction materials and with long straps we lowered it down. One or two (castaways) would go into the bag depending on how the wave was, we would raise the bag and bring them to the surface,” he described the process of extricating the world from the rocks.

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