ExWeb Series: The Coast Guard and "the other" ocean travelers, part 2
Nov 19, 2004 18: 07 EST
Only last week two rowers were rescued by the Spanish Coast Guard in the Mediterranean Sea. In this series, we describe how the police is not searching for sportive rowers in trouble as their first priority. Instead, they look for small boats or rafts with much more unhappy passengers. Each night, overcrowded Zodiak-type rafts cross northwards from the coast of Morocco, taking along illegal immigrants dreaming of a new life in Europe, away from their homes of misery, poverty and war.
Today, part 2 final in the series.
The tide washes up dead bodies
Many of them will get to the Spanish coast only to find the police waiting for them. Some will try to run and hide, to reach a road, but they are generally too weak to escape.
Red Cross people and police are always ready with water, blankets, medicines and warm food - milk for the babies and ambulances for pregnant women. Children arriving alone have the best chance. They’ll be automatically protected by the Spanish law and placed in an orphanage. The rest will be deported back to the place they came from.
Those deported will have to be content at one single thought: they are still alive to try again. Because many others never make it to land. Every week, the tide washes up dead bodies on the beaches of Andalusia and Fuerteventura.
The quest of a better life
Of course, this is not an exclusive problem of western Mediterranean. All over the world, as the gap between poorer and richer countries grows wider, thousand of people leave their land and families to risk their lives in the quest of a better life.
Sea crossings are among the most common – and dangerous - options. The shark-infested waters of the Caribbean are another common place to track these kind of desperate, one-way travels. Only two days ago, November 17, 22 people died while trying to reach the US coast in a ragged, little boat from the Dominick Republic.
They capsized soon after departure
“They told us that there will be a new, safe boat to take us to Miami – one of the survivors told journalists. When we got to the meeting point, we were told that the ship had not showed up, so we would have to do the trip in a ‘yola’ (a fragile boat)”. About 43 people jammed themselves in that nut-shell, after having paid between US$1200 and 2000 for the trip. They capsized soon after departure.
There is a big ocean out there, with bold humans eager to cross it. Only the motivations differ. While some search for a challenge, a record to break, or an adventure - others search for hope and a future. Some hope to return home one day; others only want to leave their lives behind.
Some will have journalists and friends waiting for them at their destinations; others will pray for a solitary beach, instead of policemen and Red Cross volunteers to greet them. They will all risk their lives, more or less. And they will all have a story to tell if they survive. But the stories will be very different too.
Image of north African inmmigrants at their arrival to the Spanish coast courtesy of www.bjinforma.com.
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