A coast guard captain on a small Greek island is suddenly charged with saving thousands of refugees from drowning at sea.
But now Greece is facing a new crisis, one that threatens to undo years of stability, as we struggle
to absorb the thousands of desperate migrants who pour across our borders every day.
The turquoise sea that surrounds the beautiful Greek island of Lesbos, just 4.1 miles from the Turkish coast,
is these days a deadly gantlet, choked with terrified adults and small children on flimsy, dangerous boats.
The Greek Coast Guard, especially when I was there, has been completely unprepared to deal with the constant
flow of rescues necessary to save refugees from drowning as they attempt to cross to Europe from Turkey.
The coast guard felt completely abandoned, they told me, as if the world had left
them to handle a huge humanitarian crisis — or allow thousands to drown offshore.
When I returned home to Greece last fall to make a film about the refugee crisis, I discovered a situation I had never imagined possible.
When I was there filming, Lesbos had about 40 local coast guard officers, who before
the refugee crisis generally spent their time conducting routine border patrols.