75 Refugees Found on Briton's Yacht

A British skipper whose yacht was found to be crammed with 75 illegal immigrants being smuggled into Greece claimed last night he had been coerced into taking part in the clandestine operation.

Michael Wood, 45, speaking exclusively to the Guardian from police custody on the island of Aegina, described in detail how men, women, children and babies were "stuffed" into the hold of the boat which had berths for only nine people. He is due to appear before a public prosecutor today in the port of Piraeus, outside Athens, to face charges of people smuggling.

Mr Wood, from Morecambe in Lancashire, was working as a professional skipper for an Athens-based yacht hire company. It was his second voyage.

According to Mr Wood's version of events, the smuggling was planned by his Greek fellow skipper, George. After leaving Piraeus, Mr Wood claimed, instead of heading for the island of Mykonos, George steered the vessel, the Elena, east towards the Turkish coast.

Rather than picking up tourists, Mr Wood said, he found himself in a small bay off the Turkish coast above the Greek island of Samos in the middle of the night with "tiny wooden boatloads of refugees" coming up to the yacht.

"When they scrambled on board they rushed inside and were stuffed in cupboards, sitting on the cooker, under the bunks... if the ship had broken down we would have sunk."

For two-and-a-half days, Mr Wood said, he heard the cries and screams of women and children behind the hatches. "There was an Iraqi schoolteacher among them who told me they had paid between $2,000 and $20,000 each for this journey... It was pure hell. I had no chance to get off the boat or make a cellphone call because I was being watched by George."

Mr Wood said the Greek seaman "lost the plot" when the immigrants began to "riot" in the hold and two men, armed with a meat prong and a kitchen knife, threatened them.

"They had gone berserk down there. They hadn't had any food or water for two-and-a-half days. They stank. They were desperate to leave the ship."

The British skipper said it was then he decided to steer towards the port of Ayia on the island of Aegina "whose light we could see in the distance". "I just wanted to get these people off the yacht - and I wanted to tell my story to the police. I was walking to the police with documents and papers when they arrested me. I am very scared. I have not been able to have a shower or shave for three days."

Kostas Karidakis, a spokesman at the merchant marine ministry, said the authorities had been "led to the Englishman by members of his human cargo who were picked up wandering around the island".

The Greek-flagged vessel was 15 metres (49 feet) long and "no wider than most yachts", he said. "They must have been packed in."

Police on Aegina last night refused to comment on Mr Wood's version of events. A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed that Mr Wood was being given consular assistance.

Greece, an EU member, has signed a treaty with Turkey which requires it to take back illegal immigrants. With its long coastline, Greece is widely viewed as the easiest back door entrance to the west.