A blue, smuggler-operated fishing trawler heading for mainland Greece containing 750 migrants in the Mediterranean capsized on June 12. Only 104 survivors managed to reach the Greek mainland. The disappearance of a millionaire and a few businessmen on a submersible heading for the Titanic set off a series of search-and-rescue missions and captured headlines, but the ship crowded with migrants did not.
Most of the passengers came from northern Africa or the Middle East to escape war or provide for their families. For Thaer Khalid al-Rahal, it was to earn money for his 4-year-old son Khalid’s blood cancer treatment. His Syrian family was a group of refugees in a Jordanian camp awaiting official resettlement. Funds were dwindling already, and upon hearing that Khalid needed bone marrow transplant, Thaer knew he had to do something.
“Thaer thought he didn’t have a choice,” said his cousin, Abdulrahman Yousif al-Rahal.
Mohamed Abdelnasser’s journey began in Egypt when he realized that his carpenting job did not provide enough for his wife and two sons.
For Matloob Hussain, it started when his Greek residency renewal was rejected and he was forced to return home to Pakistan, where he had to provide for 20 family members in the middle of an economic crisis.
“Europe doesn’t understand,” said his brother Adiil Hussain. “We don’t leave because we want to. There is simply nothing for us in Pakistan.”
Out of the survivors, 47 are Syrian, 43 are Egyptian, 12 are Pakistani, and two are Palestinian. A list of the missing people from two towns bordering the Nile includes 43 names, about half of which are those of people under 18.
On June 8, at a Libyan port, the smugglers barked at the migrants to pack themselves into small rubber boats to be sent aboard the trawler, where they would be taken beneath the deck. Some told their families about their mistrust of the ship, while others said they would be okay. A few had even boarded the ship without their families’ consent or knowledge.
Upon the ship’s departure of the port, families stopped receiving calls from the migrants. It felt, said one relative, like a film that had just stopped halfway through.
When news of the capsized trawler arrived on June 14, many were left in disbelief, devastation, and hopelessness. The mother of 23-year-old Amr Elsasyed, who was on the trawler, described grief “so full that she felt as if she were burning.”
A Pakistani community leader in Greece, Javed Aslam, reported being contacted by over 200 families asking for news.
Khalid had been asking where his father was and how he was doing, but no one could figure out how to explain to a toddler something they did not understand themselves.
Thaer’s wife, Nermin, was “in bad shape,” according to relatives. She had a funeral to arrange without a body. But first, she had to take Khalid to the hospital to see how far the cancer had spread.
Most of the passengers came from northern Africa or the Middle East to escape war or provide for their families. For Thaer Khalid al-Rahal, it was to earn money for his 4-year-old son Khalid’s blood cancer treatment. His Syrian family was a group of refugees in a Jordanian camp awaiting official resettlement. Funds were dwindling already, and upon hearing that Khalid needed bone marrow transplant, Thaer knew he had to do something.
“Thaer thought he didn’t have a choice,” said his cousin, Abdulrahman Yousif al-Rahal.
Mohamed Abdelnasser’s journey began in Egypt when he realized that his carpenting job did not provide enough for his wife and two sons.
For Matloob Hussain, it started when his Greek residency renewal was rejected and he was forced to return home to Pakistan, where he had to provide for 20 family members in the middle of an economic crisis.
“Europe doesn’t understand,” said his brother Adiil Hussain. “We don’t leave because we want to. There is simply nothing for us in Pakistan.”
Out of the survivors, 47 are Syrian, 43 are Egyptian, 12 are Pakistani, and two are Palestinian. A list of the missing people from two towns bordering the Nile includes 43 names, about half of which are those of people under 18.
On June 8, at a Libyan port, the smugglers barked at the migrants to pack themselves into small rubber boats to be sent aboard the trawler, where they would be taken beneath the deck. Some told their families about their mistrust of the ship, while others said they would be okay. A few had even boarded the ship without their families’ consent or knowledge.
Upon the ship’s departure of the port, families stopped receiving calls from the migrants. It felt, said one relative, like a film that had just stopped halfway through.
When news of the capsized trawler arrived on June 14, many were left in disbelief, devastation, and hopelessness. The mother of 23-year-old Amr Elsasyed, who was on the trawler, described grief “so full that she felt as if she were burning.”
A Pakistani community leader in Greece, Javed Aslam, reported being contacted by over 200 families asking for news.
Khalid had been asking where his father was and how he was doing, but no one could figure out how to explain to a toddler something they did not understand themselves.
Thaer’s wife, Nermin, was “in bad shape,” according to relatives. She had a funeral to arrange without a body. But first, she had to take Khalid to the hospital to see how far the cancer had spread.
