Thousands of Syrian refugees continue to reach Europe

Migrants sleep on a bench in a park near the main bus and train station in Belgrade, Serbia, August 26, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

According to reports of several Syrian refugees, the price for the boat is around 1,200 U.S. dollars per person. The captain of the boat is one of the passengers that receives training for five minutes.

On a highly unsafe 10 km journey to the Greek islands that lasts several hours, they get often stopped and returned to the shore by the Turkish police, and then have to pay another 200 U.S. dollars to illegal boat renters in order to have another try.

"Several hundred meters from the Turkish shore, the engine that pulls 50 people with only 15 horse power would stop and we would have water inside the engine. Water would come in the boats and they would be inundated. Big waves are the most frequent reason why people die," Mohammad said.

According to him, once migrants reach Greece, as well as Macedonia and Serbia, they lack water and food.

"We are human beings we have to survive. We have money but where to buy goods in the bush or in the desert? Sometimes we had to walk for kilometers between each border. Children needed toilet and to eat. There is crime, fear, animals, snakes, scorpions. You cannot see humanitarian organizations along the road," Mohammad continued.

During the trip, migrants rarely get the chance to stay in a hotel. Usually they sleep in the open air or in tents. They wait hours in long lines to get papers from police stations to confirm their identity and enable continue their journey.

Shops often charge them up to two times the normal price for food and water, using toilets or charging mobile phones. Migrants told Xinhua they feel they are "pushed around like animals."

Mohammad and those like him hope to start their lives anew in Germany by starting a small business, finding a job or continuing their education.

He and his compatriots spend one or two days waiting in Belgrade, together with other refugees from Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Eritrea and other countries with raging armed conflicts. Buses lead them to the Serbian towns of Kanjiza or Subotica at the northern border, where they continue their journey across Hungary and Austria.