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2016 Breaking News
A Perilous Journey
Danie Etter, Tyler Hicks, Maurico Lima and Sergey Ponomarev (photo shown), The New York Times
In 2015, the Greek island of Lesbos, a popular tourist spot, became the center of Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II.
Freelance photographer Serger Ponomarev spent five months covering the story for The New York Times. Hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan braved rough seas on flimsy rubber dinghies known as "death boats" to make the 6-mile journey from Turkey to Greece, often at night. Human smugglers charged more than $1,500 a person for a spent on the overcrowded boats. For hundreds, the trip proved deadly.
On Nov. 16, Ponomarev photographed a small wooden boat overloaded with migrants arrived on Lesbos's rocky coast. As they neared the island, the passengers jumped into the frigid water, anxious to reach the shore.
They would face cultural backlash and closed borders, as the human tide overwhelmed Europe.
"It's just a small part of a huge story," said Ponomarev. "The arrival part is over; the next part will be trying to deal with your new life." |