Guardian and Observer refugee appeal: charity completes first Aegean rescue mission
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Version 0 of 1. It was early in the morning of the 28 December when the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (Moas) completed its first rescue mission in the Aegean Sea. The 59 people were stranded on two boats. The first was drifting following engine problems, the second was overloaded. The boats were rescued two miles from the Greek island of Lesbos, which sits close to the Turkish coast and has become the main gateway for the hundreds of thousands of people seeking refuge on European shores from conflict, destitution and disaster at home. Moas, founded by a family in response to the crisis, is one of six charities chosen as beneficiaries of the Guardian and Observer appeal for refugees. Since 2014 it has saved more than 12,000 people, mostly in the Mediterranean. Now its mothership, complete with two rescue launchers named after Alan and Galip Kurdi, the children whose deaths provoked an international outcry in the summer, is to operate from the island of Agathonisi so that it can scour Aegean waters over the winter months. It is currently expected to remain there for 60 days, but the director of Moas, Martin Xuereb, hopes that donations – including those from Guardian and Observer readers – will mean they will be able to extend their expedition to 90 days. “I want to say thank you to your readers,” he says. “With their support and that of others we hope we will be able to extend our work.” The Greek coastguard is in great need of help in the Aegean, he says. “They have the responsibility to coordinate rescues over a stretch of coastline which is immense. It stands to reason that there is need for support,” he says. Although the flow of boats carrying migrants and refugees across the Mediterranean has slowed with the approach of winter, many people are still prepared to attempt the much shorter Aegean route. Moas believes it is likely to encounter more Syrian refugees than in Mediterranean waters, which is the route of people coming from sub-Saharan Africa. It is not always a clear cut choice to rescue a boat carrying refugees and migrants, says Xuereb. The transfer between vessels poses a risk in itself and the decision rests on a number of factors, such as the state of the vessel, its position in relation to the shoreline, the number of people on board and the weather conditions. “The fact is that if you just take people on board every time then sometimes you put people at risk because if a migrant craft is 300 metres from the shore and safe then intercepting and plucking them out and on your boat is less secure than letting them go,” he says. Winter operations hold all the more danger for those who end up in the cold waters so the rescue swimmers and paramedics on board the vessels are essential. “You need to locate people much quicker. They will not survive very long if they stay in the sea,” he says. Once on board, survivors are given blankets, medical assistance where necessary and transported to land where they can receive further support from health services, police and voluntary aid organisations. “We hope that in the future there will be no need for Moas but this doesn’t look like it will be the case soon. When it comes to saving lives at sea there should be no distinction as to who is providing assistance. The ultimate aim is to mitigate loss of life – who is providing that assistance is immaterial.” |