The moment of the rescue of the Egyptian sailor, who was found alive after the shipwreck off Lesvos, was released by Hellenic National Defence General Staff (GEETHA) and shows the sailor boarding the Navy helicopter in a basket.
According to the treating doctors, the Egyptian sailor who was lightly injured in the head is in good condition, and his health does not have any major concerns.
In his first testimony, the Egyptian sailor who was rescued by the Navy helicopter stated that "the ship 'RAPTOR' had an inflow of water since Saturday night, and they were pumping it out...because such instructions were given to them"!
The sailor also reported that he saw only five people dive into the sea before the ship sank ... but he is not sure of the number of sailors who abandoned the cargo ship.
The Egyptian sailor also reported that he did not see the men who jumped into the sea wearing life jackets, which indicates that there was no organised movement to escape the sinking ship.
As is known, the Egyptian sailor, a member of the crew of the RAPTOR ship that sank off Lesbos, was taken to the Mytilini hospital.
The freighter sailed under the Comoros Islands flag and is managed by a company based in Lebanon. It was carrying salt from Egypt to Istanbul with 14 crew - 1 Indian national, 11 Egyptian nationals and 2 Syrian nationals. The man rescued earlier is one of the Egyptian nationals and he was transferred to the hospital of Mytilini on Lesvos.
At 07:00 on Sunday morning the ship had notified it had a mechanical failure. At 08:20, the captain said the ship was listing and activated an emergency call to nearby ships. The ship then disappeared off radars.
The search and rescue efforts are ongoing in very rough seas, after a weather phenomenon that brought winds registering up to 9 and 10 on the Beaufort scale at sea.
Assisting the search and rescue in the area are 8 nearby ships, a frigate of the Hellenic Navy and a helicopter.
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