Sailed: British tourists went on a spree in Cyprus and ended up in Syria
Three British party-goers unexpectedly found themselves near a war zone in Syria, accidentally boarding the wrong ship after a club night in Cyprus. Lewis Ellis, 25, Alex McCormick, 19, and James Wallman, 23, thought they were on a boat trip to watch dolphins, but ended up on a transport ship following the Ayia Napa—Tartus route.
The guys had no idea where they were going until about halfway across the Mediterranean. When they had sailed about 160 km, they wondered why the coast was so far away, and it dawned on them that they had boarded the wrong ship.
(6 photos in total)
The caption "ended up in Syria" with the hashtag "the night in Ayia Napa went wrong."
When they landed in Tartus, which is located about 80 km from the war-torn Homs, they were met by astonished military police stationed to guard the Russian naval base.
"Tired, hungover, the strangest story in my life."
Lewis Ellis told: "The last club closed at 7:30 in the morning, we just waited for our boat trip for 9 hours and ended up on the wrong boat. We were in shorts, hungover, and looked like we were ready for a party on the ship. This is the most idiotic story in the world, isn't it? We swam to look at the damn dolphins, and ended up in fucking Syria."
"The Devil's ship."
Realizing what a difficult situation they were in, they panicked, says Alex McCormick. "After long hours, we found ourselves in this place and thought: “What the hell, where are we?”».
Three friends realized that they had boarded the wrong ship, in the middle of the route across the Mediterranean Sea.
At first, the merry trio were told to stay on the ship, and some time later they were taken to the Russian base. Hungover friends still didn't understand where they were until one of them managed to make a post on Facebook that identified their location.
They managed to return back to Cyprus, but the mother of one of the young Englishmen was not enthusiastic about such adventures of her son.
Alex McCormick says that the translator literally rolled on the floor with laughter when they explained to him what had happened. On Tuesday, the British who had gone on a spree returned to Cyprus, but the sudden trip did not please the mother of 19-year-old Alex at all.
When the guys docked in Tartus, which is located about 80 km from the war-torn Homs (pictured), they were met by military police stationed to guard the Russian military base.
The port of Tartus is one of the few outlets of Syria to the Mediterranean Sea. During the armed conflict in Syria, which began in 2011, hundreds of thousands of people were killed.
Keywords: Englishmen | Military base | Cyprus | Clubs | Ship | Surprise | Syria | Chance | Mediterranean sea