Facebook page offers migrants help for dangerous journey

Social media is where many planning the trip to Europe go for assistance. This page records the desperation of their plight.

A migrant shows his hands with the countries Syria and Germany written on them in front of the railway station in Budapest on September 3. Frank Augstein/AP

GAZIANTEP, TURKEY// An SOS call. A plea for help finding a missing relative. A picture of haggard, but joyful men flashing the victory sign from a Greek beach. Another photo of nervous men, women and children on an overcrowded skiff, praying for a safe arrival. A route into Austria from Hungary that authorities might not know about. A promise of safety, for a price. And endless pictures of the body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi face down on the sand outside of the Turkish town of Bodrum.

With nearly 100,000 members — and thousands more added every day — life moves fast on the Karajat Al Mushuntiteen Facebook page, which translates roughly to “Traveller’s Platform”. A handful of other groups with the same name — one with nearly 60,000 members — are on Facebook, but this one appears to be the largest migrant logistics page on social media.

The page is the first stop for many in the Middle East looking to go to Europe and provides an intimate look at the anxieties, hopes, desperation and anger of the masses attempting the dangerous journey.

The group’s members could find themselves in a number of distant, strange lands as borders close around them, huddled in boats rocking in the ­Aegean Sea and in temporary safe havens across the Middle East. Those in the region must contemplate whether or not to leave their homes and lives behind for the dangerous journey and reach out to those who have already departed. Through their messages they offer one another support, advice, camaraderie and reassurances that they are all in this together.

On Thursday morning, a passenger on one vessel posted a message from off the Turkish coast — apparently still within reach of cell phone towers — saying his boat had run out of fuel and was drifting. He tagged its co-ordinates and listed a phone number to pass on to the authorities.

That evening another SOS came in from off the Greek island of Lesbos. “Guys we’re sinking. Please help quickly. Call the coastguard.”

“God have mercy on them,” wrote a commenter.

According to the International Organisation for Migration, more than 360,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean this year and more than 2,700 have perished en route.

Some come to Karajat Al Mushuntiteen in the hope of learning the fate missing loved ones.

A photo shows a family, seemingly at an airport. The wife is smiling eagerly, the husband stern. One of their three young children is hiding shyly behind the trolley.

“We know about the corpse of the father Elias, but we don’t know about the family,” reads the note on the photograph. “Missing since July 7.”

Occasionally posts are happier: two men embracing on a stony beach giving the thumbs up, an infant being held up in front of a Greek flag, a man in a Nirvana T-shirt flashing the victory sign on dry land.

Many posts are just looking for advice.

“Hey guys, which is better? Sweden or the other countries?”

“How is the sea today?”

As Hungary moved to stop trains to western Europe and stem the flow of refugees, there were urgent queries about smugglers, taxi drivers and whether buses were an option. Some posted overland routes that they believed would get them to Austria without being stopped by authorities.

“How can a person get out of Hungary? The trains are not going and the smugglers are not going,” went one query.

The group’s rules expressly prohibit smugglers, but they slip through amid the barrage of posts.

“Get away from the human traffickers! Just for those in Turkey. We travel every three days on a yacht. It is safe travel. Travel time is only 20 minutes. €2,300. Children half price. Not many people in the boat. There is no danger in this trip God willing.”

Another post reads “Izmir to Greece. Three departures daily. All travel during the daytime. $1200 per person with discounts for groups.”

As more and more refugees die at sea and some who make landfall are forced into refugee camps before they reach their destination, anger is growing. Much of it is directed at Arab states that the refugees feel have betrayed them — particularly those that have not opened their borders to Syrians and Iraqis fleeing war.

There are reposts of a cartoon depicting men in thobes — some with curved daggers hanging from their waists — standing on the beach next to the body of Aylan having just finished digging a grave.

And then there are rants against the region which migrants feel has turned their back on them and is partially responsible for their flight.

“I am Syrian not Arab. I hope all the Syrians say Syrian, not Arab,” wrote a man called Anis. “The child killed yesterday [Aylan Kurdi] has more honour than all the Arab leaders, kings and princes. I am Syrian and Syria has only God to help us. May God bless our martyrs.”