I was terrified of dying': how one man survived 40 hours adrift in the sea

"For more than 40 hours he floated in the Mediterranean, buoyed only by an inflatable ring and flippers. Gripped by fear and disheartened by the handful of vessels that had passed by him, Rafie Nadi, 23, was kept from slipping under by a jumble of hopes. Five years earlier, he had set off from Egypt to help provide for his family; now he desperately prayed he would finally make it to Europe and live to see his mother again."

"His rescue in July made headlines around the world. Dehydrated, exhausted and his skin burning from overexposure to sun and seawater, he could be seen in video clips collapsed on a ship's deck, barely able to move or talk, after he was pulled from the water by a family sailing to the Balearic Islands. Their boat was met at sea by a maritime rescue service vessel, which took him to port in Malaga and handed him over to police and the Red Cross."

"Nadi said he had set off from the coast of Fnideq, Morocco, with a 17-year-old friend in mid-July, hoping to swim to Spain's north African enclave of Ceuta. The plan had been weeks in the works. After four unsuccessful attempts to scale Ceuta's border fence, Nadi and his friend hatched an alternative plan, cobbling together funds to buy wetsuits, inflatable rings and flippers."

Rafie Nadi, 23, left Egypt five years earlier to provide for his family and attempted multiple times to enter Ceuta. After four failed fence attempts he and a 17-year-old friend trained for weeks and bought wetsuits, inflatable rings and flippers as a cheaper alternative to smugglers charging €3,000–€4,000. They departed from Fnideq aiming for Ceuta; Nadi floated for more than 40 hours, buoyed only by an inflatable ring and flippers, before being pulled from the water by a passing family. He arrived dehydrated, exhausted and sunburned, was transferred to Malaga and taken into police and Red Cross care. The journey highlights rising risk as migrants seek new routes, with at least 572 people dying trying to reach Spain from North Africa last year.

Read at www.theguardian.com