Mario, prepare the dinghy.

You and your dinghy!

That was our best dinghy!

To the dinghy, god damn it!

I climbed over into the dinghy and pulled away.

They're patrolling the bank. Think it's easy finding our dinghy in the dark?

On the dinghy, I held all of my fear inside of me so my boys wouldn t see it, Fatima explains later.

Their dinghy had begun to sink when they were still far from shore and they had to throw anything that wasn t essential overboard, including their water logged, heavy ruck sacks.

The overloaded rubber dinghy in which they crossed the Aegean Sea to Lesvos had begun to sink, and in order to keep it afloat for the final few hundreds of metres to shore they were forced to get rid of any excess weight they could by throwing their possessions overboard.

According to a story by non profit US radio broadcaster NPR, the dinghy that took them across started taking on water, so Yusra and her sister, both strong swimmers, jumped in the sea to give the half sunk boat more buoyancy. After spending three and half hours in the water, she finally reached the island of Lesbos.