Shouts and tears of joy filled the eyes of Egyptian fishermen returning home to Kafr al-Sheikh after fleeing the war in Libya. Some of them said they could hardly escape death more than once.
Al-Masry Al-Youm met some of the returnees, about 30 fishermen, after they had been held for seven months at the Libyan port of Zuwarah.
Mohamed Khamis, one of the returnees: "No one believes that we survived this hell, because we considered ourselves already dead. All we saw was the exchange of fire between the so-called Dawn of Libya group and Libyan military forces at the port of Zuwarah.
"We have been working legally," the fishermen said.
"Fire surrounded us from all sides on land and in sea. Aircrafts dropped missiles in the sea causing tremendous waves because of its strength and causing the bottom of our boats to sink for meters.
"We could not believe we survived as we had no hope in returning home," said the fishermen.
"We had been working in Libya legally on fishing boats at the port of Zuwarah for months seeking a decent income for our children," said Ayman al-Gharabawy, one of the returnees.
War in Libya has turned the port into hell, he added.
"Fire surprised us from every direction, even aircraft missiles were thrown indiscriminately," said Gharabawy. "We could do nothing but flee to the bottom of our fishing boats and surrender to fate."
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
