2025-11-28
31 分钟This is The Guardian.
Today, the humanitarian worker on trial for people smuggling in Lesbos.
So it began like any other night while I was volunteering.
which is that I had just finished some dinner with the team,
and it was my turn to be on something called the spotting shift.
And so, five minutes to 11, I get into the organization's jeep,
I drive down to the shoreline with my colleague, another volunteer,
and we get out of the car, we set up two camping chairs,
we have our cup of tea in our thermos, and we sit down and we just wait.
and we watch and we listen.
It's 2018,
and 23-year-old Sean Binder has left his comfortable life in London and moved to the Greek island of Lesbos to work for a local search and rescue charity.
It's not quite the peak of the migration crisis,
but there are still many boats packed full of people attempting to make the dangerous crossing to Greece every night.
And on this night he was spotting That is, standing on the beach with a pair of binoculars,
watching out for dinghies of refugees making the journey from Turkey.
We stand here just listening and we're listening for screams or
for shouting or for boat engine sounds,
anything that would indicate that somewhere in this inky blackness between Lesbos and Turkey is a boat in distress.
And nothing particularly special happens until about 3am when the police arrive.