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„Out of Syria, Into a European Maze

As war rages on, more refugees are risking a journey to what they hope will be prosperous new lives. A boat packed with Syrian refugees fleeing the war bobbed in the sea about 50 miles off the southeastern coast of Sicily.

By JIM YARDLEY and GAIA PIANIGIANI

November 29, 2013 SYRACUSE, Sicily — Fifty miles off the southeastern coast of Sicily, the refugee boat first appeared as a gray spot on the horizon, rising up or dipping away with the churn of the Mediterranean. Then, as an Italian Coast Guard rescue ship drew closer, the small boat came fully into view, as did the dim figure of a man, standing on the bow, waving a white blanket.Adrift at sea, the boat heaved with about 150 Syrians fleeing war. Mothers in head scarves clutched infants. A child wore a SpongeBob life jacket. Smugglers had left them alone with a satellite phone and an emergency number in Italy: Save us, they pleaded to the Italians before the phone went dead. We are lost.Capt. Roberto Mangione shouted for everyone to stay calm as he positioned his Coast Guard ship alongside the listing trawler. The Syrians, pale and beleaguered, started clapping. They had been at sea for six days, drinking fetid water, enduring a terrifying storm. One man combed his hair, as if preparing to greet his new life. A woman named Abeer, dazed and exhausted, thought: salvation, at last. […]“

via Out of Syria, Into a European Maze – NYTimes.com