Greece, LESVOS :Yesterday we managed to save 242 people in total, but more than 50 had died. I saw them die.ifeguard from Proactiva Open Arms‏

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“I had to pick and choose whom I would save, that mother who is
drowning, or the children who cannot swim, or the father who is drowning
because the whole family is grabbing him. Yesterday we managed to save
242 people in total, but more than 50 had died. I saw them die. It was
terrible. We are shattered physically and psychologically. And I am
ashamed of Europe,” says Oscar Camps.

Oscar Camps is a volunteer lifeguard from Proactiva Open Arms, a Spanish
NGO formed by professional lifeguards who moved to Lesbos Island, Greece
to rescue and help the refugees who make a dangerous voyage through the
Aegean Sea from the Turkish Coast to Greece.

On Wednesday (October 28, 2015), 242 refugees have been rescued from a
capsizing of a boat carrying nearly 300 people through the stormy Aegean
Sea, which sparked a huge search involving patrol vessels, fishing boats
and a helicopter. At least 11 refugees died in the eastern Aegean Sea
among them 7 children. More than 30 people are still listed as missing
from this accident.

“The Turkish and Greece Fishermen rushed to the boat and started
rescuing people. It was shocking. We climbed into the boat to take the
children because they [the refugees] said they had no strength to lift
them. The Frontex boat did nothing, All they did is to throw ropes to
the drowning, like in the movies, and they stayed there their ship deck
watching people die. I wonder if they would do if their relatives were
drowning in the sea. It was gruesome. Those who witnessed this tragedy
must bear responsibility,” say Oscar referencing to the Frontex ship, an
EU coastguard vessel with a Norwegian flag.

Proactiva Open Arms announced via twitter that they will stay in Greece
till mid-January 2016 since the surge - and the death toll – at the
Aegean Sea are set to rise as Russian airstrikes push more refugees to
flee to Europe before borders shut and the sea gets rougher.
Proactiva Open Arms was formed after their members saw the images of
drowned refugees washing up on the Greek beaches, including that of
three-year-old Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi.
"Those images made us think, 'we are professionals in lifesaving and we
could do something to help the refugees in Lesbos'. We have the skills
and we have the equipment to do it so we took a decision and just went,"
says Oriol Canals another volunteer from Proactiva Open Arms.
The group of lifeguards raised €15,000 ($17,000) between them, enough to
stay for their first month, and since then they relied on raising money
to remain longer in Lesbos.
Photos: Santi Palacios/AP, Jeanne Carstensen and Proactiva Open Arms.
Source: El Mundo (in Spanish): http://bit.ly/1PUmZHs
Background information: The Local (ES): http://bit.ly/1jsxNjS
Proactiva Open Arms facebook page: Proactiva Open Arms