’14 Of Us Died’: Migrant Pulled From Maltese Waters Reveals Details Of Treacherous Journey Before AFM Rescue Last Week
Mohammed Adam Oga, the sole survivor one the dinghy that was pulled from Maltese waters last week by the Armed Forces of Malta, has spoken out about the ordeal of attempting the cross from Libya to Europe, revealing the total number of passengers to have been 15.
“No food, no water, no fuel,” is what Mohammed says of the journey, “we stayed 11 days in the water.”
Mohammed was speaking with the help of a translator, who told The Times of Malta: “We started drinking the sea water. After five days, two people died and then every day two people died.”
Earlier in the week, video footage emerged online of the AFM carrying out a rescue which showed Mohammed collapsed over another body, presumed dead, in a dinghy adrift just offshore of Malta.
“There were 15 of us on the boat and I am the only one alive. God sent the Maltese to save me.”
He was taken to hospital for immediate attention after being declared severely dehydrated.
“If I go back to Ethiopia, I will be arrested,” he said, speaking of his previous work in his home country as a politician with the Oromo Liberation Front, which campaigns for independence for the region and is in opposition with the government.
For the last 15 years, however, he has been living between Eritrea and Sudan. Sudan is currently in the midst of a political crisis that has already led to a number of mass protests and lost lives. After friends in Germany suggested he meet them in Libya, he began an arduous journey into North Africa.
When he arrived in Libya, a Somali national named Ismail helped to find a Libyan who would arrange for a boat to carry him across to Europe – for a mere $700.
“The agent gave us the GPS and told us ‘go to Malta’.”
The dinghy first ran out of fuel, then food and then water.
“We saw many boats. We shouted. We were waving and they were just passing. It was sunny, hot. No food and no water.”
Onboard the vessel with Mohammed were two fellow Ethiopians, a pregnant woman and one man from Ghana and 10 other Somalians. Their bodies began to decompose in the heat.
“Ismail said we should put the bodies in the sea. Every day we took the bodies and threw them in the water. Ismail said, ‘Everyone is dead now. Why would we live?'”
At one point during the nightmare, Ismail reportedly bargained with Mohammed, telling him: “Let’s break this and we die together.’ He threw everything in the sea – phones and GPS. I said, ‘If you want to die, die on your own. I don’t want to die.’”
Mohammed was unaware his partner, Ismail, had died in the last few days of the journey at sea. He doesn’t remember the AFM rescue, either, but does thank them for saving his life.
“God sent you,” he says, “I am happy. I am alive.”