Syrian refugee Ameer Mehtr braved to make the perilous journey from Turkey to the Greek island of Samos swimming, according to an Independent report.
Mehtr did not have the funds to pay smugglers to transport him to Greece after his family lost their home in their war-torn homeland.
It took Mehtr seven hours to cross the four miles that separate Samos from the neighboring country. He was trained for that as in the past he was part of Syria’s national swimming team. He trained some more off the coast of Beirut where he fled in May, according to the report.
In September he decided to make the journey, after studying maps to find the shortest route in the Aegean Sea. He took off at night from a point near the town of Guzelcamli, after running for an hour to evade Turkish police who were searching for people smugglers.
He wore only his swimming trunks, cap, goggles and nose clip. His few possessions, like a telephone and a few computer chips, were tied to his waist. His nutrition consisted of a few dates he had with him inside film wrap. After seven hours he made it to Samos, where he then had to walk for seven miles to reach the port to be registered as a refugee.
After that he spent a month living in European refugee camps and traveling on trains packed with migrants to reach his destination of choice, Sweden, where he now lives in an asylum center.
Mehrt said that he is far from the only one who swam that distance, as several people have made the same journey.
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