When Gjorg clambered onto the spongy surface of the dinghy meant to take him across the English Channel he was not as afraid as the others.
“I was cold and scared of the waves, but I had lived in Greece and travelled by boat around the islands so I know how it [feels],” he told the Express.
But that changed when he saw some of the other migrants taking the journey with him.
“There was a mother with a one-moth-old baby,” he added. “She was carrying him on board.
“[I thought] you can’t take a baby, both of you can be killed.”
The mother had a lifejacket on but there was nothing small enough for the infant to wear. Gjorg, not his real name, feared that, in the English Channel’s cold water, the tiny child would have little hope of surviving.
The baby was not the only child on board the flimsy vessel. Two other kids of 12 and 13 were packed into the boat; at least they had the chance to swim if the dinghy capsized, Gjorg thought.
“[The mother and baby] were sitting in the middle,” he continued. “The baby was sleeping and calm. But when we hit the waves and water splashed into the boat it was sometimes crying.
“The mother was breastfeeding the child.”
As the small boat made its way out into the water it was spotted by the French coastguard.
There is no indication that they were aware of the child being on board but, nevertheless, the ship did follow a well-established policy of following the dinghy from a distance as it made its way to Britain, without intervening.
As the dinghy filled with 54 people struggled across the Channel, Gjorg remembers how worried he was for the child. He knew that the French vessels were close enough to come to their rescue should they capsize but doubted there would be enough time to save the infant.
“French boats were watching us from a distance. If they wanted to stop us they could,” he added.
The family had a mobile phone to call for help but held off dialling the number for rescue until the British Border Force came into view. This was so the help, which would speedily arrive at the news a baby was on the dinghy, would take them to Britain rather than France.
But small boats move slowly across the Channel buffeted from side to side by swirling currents and supertankers, so they bobbed along the perilous waves for a long time.
“We waited four hours [then the family] called SOS and [they rescued us],” Gjorg recalled.
Once informed, British Border Force safely took the migrants from the dinghy and transported them to Kent for processing.
But, to this day, Gjorg is still bothered by the family’s decision to risk the life of their child.
“It’s crazy to take baby on the boat,” he said. “They don’t have a choice.
“If you have a heart, you can’t take the baby onboard. This is dangerous. They know some boats are sinking and if you know that how can you take a baby?”