24 Hours In A Fuel Tank.

[KEVIN2008]

24 hours in a fuel tank

Three refugees from the war in Syria met in Turkey and crossed into Greece - but they wanted to go further. With money running out and their families in Turkey relying on them to find a new home, they made a last-ditch attempt to get into Italy. Said tells their story.

We knew the fuel tank was a bad way to go. There were Syrian guys who had tried it before and they all said, "Don't do it!"
But we were desperate to get out of Greece. I'd been stuck there for two months, living in a flat in Athens with Anas and Badi. There was no work, no help, no way to survive. The police were hassling us every day, aggressive as hell. "Where are your papers? Where are your papers?"

The traffickers sat around in the cafes, Kurdish and Arab guys mainly, talking quite openly about the ways they could get people into other Western European countries. By plane. By boat. In the fuel tank of a lorry.
The fuel tank was the worst, but it was a surefire way to get in. "You might be a corpse by the time you arrive," they said, "but you'll get there.

The guy who told us about the lorry was an Egyptian who ran an internet cafe near Omonia Square. The cafe was just a front for the smuggling operation, really. A lot of Arab kids would be in there talking to their parents on Skype, and he would listen in to find out who was trying to get into France or Italy. He told us he knew a Greek driver going to Milan. For 5,000 euros (£3,630, $5,386) each, he could take four of us in the second fuel tank.

We left Athens in a taxi, me and Badi and Anas and an Iraqi guy who we didn't really know. The driver took us to a warehouse in an industrial zone outside Thessaloniki, not far from the sea. The lorry was hidden inside and the driver shut the warehouse doors so no-one could see what was going on.
He told us all to go to the toilet before we got in. The other guys all took a leak, but I just couldn't go. I was too tense.
We had to get into the tank by crawling under the axle of the lorry and squeezing through this tiny door. As soon as I saw it I thought, "We're going to die in there."

READ MORE + VIDEO: 24 hours in a fuel tank - BBC News

[billy the kid]

Uncomfortable but do-able. 24 hrs.light meal. do some downers and wake up in Dover.

For 5,000 euros (£3,630, $5,386) each,

they're not short of some way out, applaud them.

[Cujo]

Getting fed up with the sympathetic tales from the BBC. Has upper management been infiltrated by immigrant Muzzies?

[nigelandjan]

Getting fed up with the sympathetic tales from the BBC. Has upper management been infiltrated by immigrant Muzzies?

[CaptainNemo]

Getting fed up with the sympathetic tales from the BBC. Has upper management been infiltrated by immigrant Muzzies?

Quite. They should just do a longer report running through every country in the developing world telling a horror story involving children, and followed by further appeals for cash, and proclamations of how right Labour is, and how evil UKIP is.

[Dapper]

24 Hours In A Fuel Tank.

I understand how for a westerner this sounds horrific and unbelievable, but for a poor fcr from a war-torn or economically fckd place who's desperate - would be more like a slightly extended 3rd class bus ride.

[BobR]

^ It would get damn hot in there if that metal can was in the sunlight. In Texas about 10 years back, a bunch of Mexican immigrants were left in a metal truck trailer, and quite a few died from the heat.,

THE NATION
Dead Found in Truck Hauling Mexicans
Crime: Authorities say a rig with dozens of people inside drove to North Texas from Santa Fe, N.M., about 12 hours, in the heat.
July 28, 2002|From Associated Press
Dead Found in Truck Hauling Mexicans - latimes

[Looper]

^^nonsense. Sounds like 3-star or maybe even 4-star accommodation.

[Troy]

I can think of better ways to get high on 5000 Euros.

... or was that just for a sympathy bonus award?