Greek tourist shares touching picture of the moment she saved a Syrian refugee

A Greek tourist has shared an image of the moment she and a group of friends reportedly rescued a Syrian refugee who was stranded at sea.

Sandra Tsiligeridu explained to the Pappas Post, a Greek news website based in the US, that the group had been travelling back from the small island of Pserimos last week when they spotted him floating and "almost half-conscious".

The man, named Mohamed, had reportedly been clinging to a life vest at sea for more than 13 hours after becoming separated from a boat carrying 39 of his compatriots which had left from Turkey at 5am on Friday.

At first however, the group mistook the 28-year-old for a diver and had steered the boat to avoid him, not realising he was in distress.

I looked at him and he needed help. I immediately screamed to my friend who was driving our boat to turn around, because this man needed help.

• Sandra Tsiligeridu

Tsiligeridu told the paper that the group immediately called the coastguard in Kos, where they were returning, to let them know they had saved someone. They then wrapped the man in blankets and hugged him all the way back to port.

She explained on her Facebook post that Mohamed had dived into the water after one of the oars on the tiny raft he had been travelling in fell overboard.

Due to the high seas and strong currents he couldn't get back into the boat but his family had thrown him the float which ultimately saved his life.

According to local media reports, Mohamed was later reunited with his family who had reported him missing as soon as they arrived in Kos.

According to BuzzFeed, which has translated a television interview given by Tsiligeridu to Greek station Mega, she said: "He grabbed my hand and said ‘thank you,’. That ‘thank you’ is something I will personally never forget."

i100.co.uk has reached out to Sandra Tsiligeridu for comment.

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