Syrian Journey: Choose your own escape route

The Syrian conflict has torn the country apart, leaving thousands dead and driving millions to flee their homes. Many seek refuge in neighbouring countries but others pay traffickers to take them to Europe - risking death, capture and deportation.

If you were fleeing Syria for Europe, what choices would you make for you and your family? Take our journey to understand the real dilemmas the refugees face.

Can't see the interactive? Follow this link: Could you make the right choices?

The routes, options and outcomes in this Syrian Journey feature were based on real stories uncovered by extensive research as part of a BBC Arabic digital project exploring migration from Syria.

Research by Mamdouh Akbiek, Eloise Dicker

Illustrations by Gerry Fletcher. Design and production by Charlotte Thornton, Marcelo Zanni, Dominic Bailey, Adipat Virdi

YOU CAN VIEW THE JOURNEY IN ARABIC, RUSSIAN AND FARSI

Get involved

We would like to know what you would take with you if you were forced to flee your country.

Use the hashtags #whatwouldyoutake and #Syrianjourney to post your choices, with images and/or video. These may be used in a follow-up report.

See what Syrian migrants who made the journey took with them

Survivors' stories

Real stories from people who risked the journey from Syria. A Syrian refugee tells how he nearly drowned in a lorry of melted chocolate as he tried to enter the UK.

Another Syrian, "Mohammed", tells how he walked from Turkey to Italy.

The story of how three Syrian asylum seekers reached Italy in a lorry's reserve fuel tank.

You can read the full story 24 hours in a fuel tank

How a Syrian refugee's long journey to safety was made even longer. The longest detour

The special shoes

Two years before the start of a the Syrian revolution, a young man bought a pair of shoes and decided not to wear them until reunited with his mother in Rotherham. Read the story here

The Facebook smugglers selling the dream of Europe