Ramy Abu Aoun: The Desperate Search for a Syrian Father Lost at Sea

Accident – Death – Obituary News : At her home in the Syrian town of Daraa al-Balad, Rania Abu Aoun spends her days anxiously waiting for news about her missing son, Ramy. Ramy left on a boat from Algeria to Spain on January 3, 2022, and has not been heard from since. Rania’s house was hit by an air raid in 2013, and the ongoing war and economic challenges in neighboring countries pushed Ramy and thousands of others to attempt the dangerous journey to Europe.

Ramy, a quiet and studious person, had dreamt of providing a better future for his three children, Bayan, Layan, and Hamza. He moved to Lebanon in 2008 to find work and pursue higher education but returned to Syria in 2011, just as the revolution broke out. When attacks on his hometown intensified in 2013, Ramy’s family moved to Lebanon to live with him, but financial struggles made it difficult to support the family.

In May 2021, Ramy met a woman known as “Latifa,” who arranged his trip to Spain. Rania sold an inherited apartment to pay the $4,000 fee for the journey. However, after Ramy arrived in Algeria in June 2021, Latifa stopped responding to his messages. Ramy’s last call to his family on January 3, 2022, was from Oran, Algeria, where he spoke to his daughters and told them to be careful.

Ramy’s flatmates and an NGO monitoring human rights violations at Euro-African borders believe that he set sail in a dinghy with other Syrians and a group of Moroccans and Algerians. Since that night, there has been no sign of them. Rania and the families of the other missing Syrians have taken up the search themselves, but their efforts have been met with obstacles and lack of support.

Anouar, the wife of one of Ramy’s companions, was able to make a complaint to the Spanish Ombudsman in April 2022. However, after investigation, no information about her husband could be found in the police databases, suggesting they never reached Spain. In November 2022, Rania received an anonymous tip-off suggesting that Ramy and his companions were being held in a prison in the Spanish province of Almería. However, when contacted, the General Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions stated that they were not registered in any prison.

Rania and Anouar are now in touch with hundreds of other families whose loved ones have also gone missing on sea voyages to Spain. They are frustrated by the lack of support from authorities and believe that the responsibility lies with the police to search for the missing.

Helena Maleno, founder of Caminando Fronteras, a NGO monitoring deaths and disappearances in the Mediterranean, criticizes the government for outsourcing the responsibility of supporting the families and searching for the missing. She believes that NGOs cannot be solely responsible and that the government needs to take action.

The plight of Ramy and the countless others who have gone missing or lost their lives attempting to reach Europe highlights the dangers faced by refugees and the need for better support and protection for those embarking on these treacherous journeys..