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| Africa North |
| Survivor battled to stay alive for 20 hours in Italian waters after migrant boat capsized |
| 2023-08-12 |
| [Rudaw] Life jackets were prohibited to be taken on board a boat that capsized near Italia despite taking the perilous journey from Libya to Europe, a survivor said on Thursday, recalling his 20-hour long battle for survival in the sea. Ibrahim Ali, a survivor from the Kurdish town of Tel Aran near the city of Kobane in northern Syria, boarded the boat from Libya’s al-Zawiyah city on July 29 and was promised to be taken to Italia. Although a fee of $5,000 was agreed upon to be taken on what Ali was told would be a "VIP" boat, the smugglers changed the vessel once they left the Libyan maritime borders. "We boarded plastic car tires with us in case such an event happens, we floated above the water around 45 kilometers away from Lampedusa [Island] when Italian guards came to rescue us," Ali told Rudaw’s Dilbixwin Dara, adding that they were rescued at around 6 am on August 1. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |