One notable point in this testimony is that Coast Guard puncturing of inflatable boats is so common that the smugglers are advising migrants to take rubber patches with them to try to repair them. But the disabling of boats is not always by puncturing. HRW viewed a statement alleging that the Greek Coast Guard took the motor off an interdicted boat, towed it into Turkish waters, and left it in rough seas where it capsized. This is a signed statement from a man named Yasin, who was released from Samos the day before the Human Rights Watch visit. It was written in Arabic, and given to Human Rights Watch by another recently released detainee at Samos. Yasin said that 22 people on the boat drowned and that he was the sole survivor. Another detainee who befriended Yasin before his release added more details to the story, including that the other passengers were Sudanese, that some of the Sudanese detainees in the camp knew and were mourning for the dead, and that one body washed ashore on Samos:100 I survived real death. At that time we were 22 persons and me. We tried with a rubber boat to cross from Turkey to Greece. The Greek Coast Guard caught us and towed it back to Turkey. They removed our motor. A huge wind and rain came and big waves hit our boat. This happened at 2:00 pm on May 16, 2008. I saw with my own eyes the wind hit the boat and people fell in the sea one by one. Only two of us were left. After a while, the waves became big and turned the boat over. I stayed after the boat was finished and I swam until I arrived here on the island. Someone saved me and took me to the hospital. So I escaped from the hell of my country and expected paradise, but found hell here.101 In other accounts, the Greek Coast Guard would tow a boat back into Turkish waters without first damaging it or making it unseaworthy. An 18-year-old Afghan described such a pushback: We were six persons in a small rubber boat. We had six oars and life vests. We had been inside Turkish waters for four hours and two or three hours in Greek waters when the police caught us. When they came near 100 Human Rights Watch interview (name withheld, B-29), Samos, May 30, 2008. 101 On file with Human Rights Watch. Stuck in a Revolving Door 46