Migrant crisis: Smugglers 'deliberately holed boat', says survivor
- Published
Boat survivor: "I saw one of the smugglers break the boat with a hammer so the Greek army would come - they killed people"
More than 90 survivors from a boat which sank off the coast of Greece on Sunday, killing at least 35, were brought here to the island of Leros.
Some of them were so traumatised they were not able to speak about the ordeal they'd just been through.
At least 14 Iraqi and Syrian children, including a baby just weeks old, were among the victims of the sinking.
The wooden boat had set sail from nearby Turkey and sank just 300m from the shore of the tiny island of Farmakonisi, according to a survivor who spoke to the BBC.
Jay, an Iraqi, said many had been trapped inside the boat as the water gushed in and although he managed to save some on board, he feels profound guilt that he did not manage to stop more from slipping under the waves.
The survivors were brought to the island of Leros
"I saw the kids dying, the women dying and I couldn't do anything," he said, "so many kids and so many women."
According to Jay it was the Syrian smugglers on board the boat who had deliberately sunk it, using a hammer to smash a hole in the hull.
A fatal move, he believes, done in the hope of attracting the attention of the Greek military based on Farmakonisi.
Volunteer aid workers who went to meet the survivors as they arrived here on neighbouring Leros say they were all deeply traumatised.
"There were babies, girls, boys, parents, adults, everybody was crying and screaming, it was horrible," says Jette Jacobsen from Denmark who has a holiday home in Leros.
Other survivors were completely silent.
They had all apparently paid between €1,250 and €2,500 for a place on the overcrowded boat.
This young child survived the sinking
Most are now being looked after in hotels on Leros where psychologists have been trying to help them deal with the trauma.
As for Jay, he dreams of eventually reaching Britain so he can be reunited with his family who are already living there.
But he doesn't want to be treated as a refugee in Britain.
"I don't want anything, I don't want money, I just want to be with them.
"I'm a man, I have hands, I can work."
