Volunteers who worked tirelessly to save migrants from sinking boats off the Greek island of Lesvos were honored with the UNHCR’s Nansen Refugee Award for 2016.
Konstantinos Mitragas
on behalf of the Hellenic Rescue Team (HRT) and Efi Latsoudi, the human rights
activist behind "PIKPA village," are joint
winners of the award.
"We have exercises where we practice with five or ten people on board, but when you see a boat with 50 people you say, ‘What do I do now?'" said Antigoni Piperak of the HRT, reflecting on a year they will never forget, when Lesvos alone could see 10,000 arrive daily.