At the place of Helal death, Mohammed Al-Yazeedi talks about yemeni’s risky adventure in order to sneak to Spain by swimming
English - Wednesday 25 September 2019 الساعة 04:38 pm
Aden – NewsYemen.net
I apologize to my mother, I deeply apologize to her. I swore to her that I would not cross the ocean to go to Spain and that crossing the
ocean would never be in my consideration.
She used to tell me: Stay here son, , stay here and don’t you dare to cross the ocean .. Stay for a year or two in Morocco and do not cross the ocean.
For her to make sure she used to ask me to swear not to cross the ocean, and I swore for her , we keep talking about different stuff then she asks me to swear to her again, I swear and laugh. She scold me thinking that I don’t take her seriously and that I don’t care for myself the way she wants me to as a mother. While there was nothing I cared about more than her and her being worried about me, and fearing that something bad might happened to me.
She had a feeling that I would cross the ocean she had a stronger feeling than I did about that.
I have never expected that I would take the sea to go to Spain, and I had to comfort her in anyway. I tried so hard to avoid the sea but one day suddenly I found myself with no other choice.
In the same way my friend Helal has drowned and from the same place. The only difference was that me and my friend Ayman Al-Yafei had to swim about 70-80 meters till we made it to the shore, which was definitely against what we had agreed on with the smugglers, but luckily for us the weather was nice and sea was calm. While Helal and Akram were dropped only 15 meters away from the shore but sea was rough and wiled which made it impossible for them to swim and survive.
Whoever knows this horrifying place will understand how Helal fought for his life among the rocks and the narrow paths they made.
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Yemeni champion drowned during his try to immigrate to Europe
The beach was filled with huge rocks which made it narrow and no choices for climbing up. Even while holding onto a rock, you can’t stand on your feet because there is nothing to put you feet on. You hold onto the rock with your fingers and your body is floating over the water. To swim to find another rock that you can tightly hold onto it, is a matter of luck. That’s because all rocks are huge from one side and full of Algae from another and when you put your hands and legs over it, you easily slip.
When the sea gets rough you become like a feather with no power or self control and the waves keeps bringing you back and forward hitting you against the rocks.
There were three of us, but our friend Adnan Alaaqab refused to jump off the boat, where the distance was so far and it wasn’t the deal we had agreed on. So he decided to return back from where he came. The three of us had the right to refuse to jump but we decided to do what it takes to get through this journey.
I was so sure and convinced at that time that this was what I wanted to do and to try whatever it takes to get there.
Now I think if I go back in time maybe I would have jumped, at least not from that distance. Which made me feel close to death.
It wasn’t easy to swim 70 meters across the sea with your whole clothes on, and after being away from sport and swimming for a long time. Especially that we weren’t aware of this distance so we didn’t supply ourselves with lifeline or any surviving supplies.
I reached to s point where I could not move anymore cause of exhaustion and decided to just give up and drown. I have no idea how I made it to the shore.
I was swimming and looking at my friend Ayman who was far away behind me. He looked so exhausted and unable to move, I felt like he was giving up and drowning. For seconds I saw a flashback of my whole life and I was thinking its the end. Then
I tried to go back to my friend Ayman and either survive together or drown together, but I couldn’t help it but to keep moving forward.
I reached the shore and I wasn’t able to move. I thought I had lost my limbs because I wasn’t feeling them cause of the exhaustion. I felt like having no shoulders and no legs.
I lost sensation of my body but I kept swimming and fighting with my heart.
I hang onto the rock waiting for Ayman to get closer from me, then I hold his hand and grabbed him to climb the rock together.
I can’t describe the moment my hands touched the rock in the dark. It was dark and we couldn’t see things clearly, however the feeling was overwhelming, it was like heaven.
We reached the top of the rock and I lied down there, opening my arms widely and breathing in and out, not being able to move my body. I was feeling dizzy and so numb.
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On the other hand we kept waiting for our third friend Adnan to reach. At that time we didn’t know that he didn’t jump and went back. We were thought he had jumped after us but we couldn’t find him. We kept waiting in an dangerous area. So dangerous that even climbing a rock won’t save us. Very bad thieves were there with blade weapons and no mercy. These thieves attack and stab people especially the new arrivals because they think that they come with a lot of cash.
After an hour of waiting on the rock, there was no trace for Adnan, and I said to Ayman he has either drowned or returned back to where we came from, so what do you think we should do?
We were so worried and confused and there was nothing we could do.
At that moment I remembered that I have grabbed a cell phone, where I had that feeling that we would need it. I grabbed the cell phone out of my pocket that I had it wrapped in a waterproof cover. I called a friend in Morocco from under the rock so the thieves would not see the light, and thank god that friend told us that Adnan didn’t jump and has returned to Morocco safely. Hearing this was so relieving and we could finally catch out breathes.
After that we grabbed our stuff and jumped off the rock 300 meters away, till we got into the city.
I didn’t want to write about this and I wanted to keep it for myself, so mom won’t know about it. Where she still doesn’t know that I have crossed the ocean to get to Spain because if she knew its going to be a big problem.
It has been almost a month since the the day I got here, and the incident of Helal brought me back to that day and made me write about it.
