Erstellt am: 16. 9. 2015 - 14:59 Uhr

"I thought I would die, with my family, in the sea"

Reality Check: A Syrian family in Austria tell their harrowing tale of escape, smugglers, and finally finding safety.

Two months ago, Saad and Oula were living in their home in Damascus with their 8 year old son. Saad is an actor and comedian, Oula is a film maker - but the war had taken its toll on their employment opportunites, and money was tight.

Rosie Waites

Saad and Oula consider themselves the lucky ones. They survived the trip, and are now safe, but are unsure whether they would advise their friends to follow them.

Eventually, the pressure of the war became too much and, like so many of their friends, they decided to leave, together with other members of their family.

A long and dangerous journey followed, but as Oula says, "We were dying in Syria, and maybe if we leave, we will survive."

After a trip which took them through Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary, they arrived in Austria, and after two weeks in Traiskirchen, their asylum application was files, and they moved to a house in Lower Austria.

Rosie Waites went to meet them.

Syrian refugees in Sweden

Nikolai Atefie, a journalist specialising in migration issues, explains why Sweden is a key destination for refugees from Syria.

NOAA

The WWF report shows an alarming decrease in marine life

Marine population halved since 1970

A new report by the WWF says that sea-life, including mammals, birds, fish and reptiles, has declined by almost 50% in the last 45 years.

John Tanzer, director of the WWF's Marine programme explains the disturbing news.

Russia's military support for Syria

Strategic analyst, Paul Rogers, discusses the implications of Russia's military build-up in Syria.

Creative Commons

Interleaved pages are almost impossiblr to pull apart!

Pulling phone-books apart

It's a mystery that has baffled scientists for decades, but now they've figured it out. There's a perfectly logical reason why two interlocking phone-books are almost impossible to separate by force.

Gavin Hesketh of UCL explains the phenomenon and the physics behind it, and reveals why this is an important area of study.

FM4 Reality Check

Monday to Friday from 12.00 to 14.00, Saturday from 12.00 to 13.00, and after the show via Podcast or fm4.orf.at/realitycheck.