Erstellt am: 20. 4. 2015 - 14:34 Uhr

"They said 'Inshallah' and that was it."

Unscrupulous traffickers and despair at sea. As the EU struggles for answers to the Mediterranean migrant crisis, an eyewitness account of the horror of being stranded at sea.

It’s hard to grasp the scale of the tragedy that is playing out almost daily on the Mediterranean sea. The latest reports suggest the death toll from the capsizing of a fishing vessel packed with migrants this week could reach 950 - and that is just the most dramatic incident in a year of regular tragedies.

A Titanic Death Toll

It is estimated that so far this year 1,500 people have died while trying to cross the stretch of sea between North Africa and the European Union. That’s as many people as died at the sinking of the Titanic, a tragedy that haunts us a century on. Already more migrants have died in the Mediterranean in the first 4 months of this year than in the entirety of last year, which itself was a record year:

Crisis Meeting

EU leaders have rushed to Luxembourg for a crisis meeting as shocked public opinion demands something is done. Today on Reality Check we have been looking at the possible solutions but there seems to be no quick fix.

The EU has no reliable partners to tackle to traffickers in chaotic Libya. Can other North African nations do more? Would a revamped Mare Nostrum to send more EU patrol boats nearer to the North African coast solve or exacerbate the problem?

I don’t know. But I was struck by a statement from the Mark Rice-Oxley in the Guardian “The sad fact remains that until public opinion cares more about children drowning at sea than it does about immigrants settling next door, politicians will be loth to take a lead.”

Perhaps we need to put a face to the faceless victims. We talk about the traffickers and the politicians but rarely the individuals trying the reach Europe.

APA/EPA/Opielok Offshore Carriers

A boat with refugees next to the cargo ship 'OOC¦Cougar' in the Mediterranean sea on 17 January 2015. The ships of the German shipping company Opielok Offshore Carriers have rescued more than 1,500 people in the Mediterranean sea since December 2014

The haunting horror of what happened off the coast of Libya this weekend reminded me of a young man I met in Vienna a few years ago. His name was Eric Nyandu Kabongo, he is a singer and artist from the Democratic Republic of Congo who had fled violence in his home country, had passed to Gabon, where he was attacked, then to Benin, where he didn't feel at home, and then, like many sub-Saharan Africans, to the northern coast of Libya. There, living in a cramped room with five other migrants. Like many others in his situation, Europe became the "Promised Land" - the land of milk and honey. And that's why he got together the money to pay for a 300 kilometres trip across the Mediterranean in an open fishing boat.

Why did you want to go?

“When I was in Libya, trying to arrange the crossing, they painted a very nice picture. They didn't tell me it would be a small boat - only five or six metres long. They didn't tell me that they'd put 26 people in the boat. They don't tell you any of that.

Although you were cramped, I believe that at the beginning of the journey, you were all very optimistic?

Yeah! At the beginning they tell you that it will take six hours and then you will be in Europe. You think 'six hours! I won't even have to eat!?'

And very soon, of course, the coast disappears from the African side and there is still no sight of land on the European side. At what point did the optimism on the boat start to turn to worry?

It was on the second day in the morning. There was nothing but water as far as the eyes could see and people were starting to ask themselves a lot of questions. Maybe the captain is pointing the boat in the wrong direction? Maybe we are lost? They didn't have to say it - it was written on their faces. Everyone was thinking a lot. There were long periods of silence.

When you say 'captain', we're not talking about an experienced seaman are we?

No. We called him 'captain' because he was guiding us. He was chosen at random by the Arabs in Libya, who told him how to steer and how to keep the compass facing north. Then they said 'Inshallah' and that was it.

What was the point when you really began to think that you might die?

It was when we had spent two days with nothing and were heading into the third day. There was no fuel, no food - nothing. As a human being you realize there is no hope. There is no way out of the situation. We began to share stories from the Bible, but as time passed even that lost its power. Then you saw someone begin to cry, and you'd begin to cry, too. At first it was the women, but then everyone was crying. And then people began to confess their sins. We knew we were at the end.

What was going through mind, personally, when you were faced with death?

I turned myself to the Gospels. I was afraid and very tired. But there is always this small spark of hope that drives you to stand up in the boat and see if you can find something.

And you say you were singing?

Yes we sang a song from Nigeria. It goes (sings): "Oh Lord I'm very, very grateful for all you've done for me." We were dispirited but we wanted to say thank you.

How did you feel when suddenly you saw a ship and realized that you might be safe?

I tell you the smile was brought back! We were exhausted but everybody tried to stand up to see where the boat was. But on such a small boat you can't all stand up at the same time, or the boat would collapse. So I tried to calm people down. We had to take it in turns to stand up and have a look. But everyone was smiling. It was like being born again!"

So it was a happy ending. But it was no fairy tale ending. You were rescued by the Maltese navy, who took you back to Malta. But the first people that you see on land were the police. You are taken to a detention centre?

Yes. We'd been rescued. We'd been saved. For that I will never be able to thank the government of Malta enough. We were put in a detention centre and held there doing nothing for a long, long time. Some people were losing their minds. Something has to be done.

If people in Africa were warned people about the dangers of the trip you took would that help?

Yes. This journey is not a good thing. It's dangerous. That's why I am talking about it. But unless the problems in Africa are solved, such trips will continue. If you don't have the basic things you need to live, like enough food for example, you will move. People will take risks.