A Libyan man who nearly drowned trying to rescue a drowning boy in Sliema last Wednesday says he has faced racially motivated remarks since the incident.

“I didn’t do it for my name in the newspapers and magazines. I saw this child was going to die and I did what anyone should do," Majed Shahin, 37, told Times of Malta on Saturday.

“But then, people just read there was a 37-year-old Libyan man and Chinese boy and think something different happened. Some people were asking me at hospital: ‘Just tell the truth, why were you with this boy?' or 'Did you throw him in?'."

After nearly drowning while trying to save the 14-year-old, Shahin has been shocked to read comments on social media suggesting he was to blame.  

“When I got home, I saw some people were posting and commenting: 'What was a Libyan doing with this Chinese boy?' Like I had done something wrong.”  

The story hit the headlines after Sliema resident Sean Meli jumped into the rough waves to pull the boy to safety. Since then, Meli has been hailed a hero with even Prime Minister Robert Abela promising an award for the act of bravery.  

Shahin said he too had played a part in the rescue.  

“I think that if Sean helped that boy, maybe I too tried to help keep him alive until Sean came. I tried my best,” he said.   

However, the public reaction to news of a Libyan man being in the water too has saddened Shahin. 

“Sean is Maltese, I am Libyan, the boy is Chinese. We didn’t think about where we come from in that moment. We just thought we are in Malta and there is a human life in the water there and we have to save it,” he said.  

Shahin's rescue attempt

Shahin recounted the minute-by-minute ordeal. 

“That night I had just finished my dinner at Compass Lounge [a kiosk which overlooks the water where the incident happened] when a little girl, maybe 12 years old, came up to me. She was crying, asking for help and saying ‘my friend is in the sea drowning’,” he said.  

Shahin said that when he looked down from the railings towards the crashing waves he could see a small boy who appeared to be drowning. Down by the rocks he saw another girl calling for help.  

It was around 7.15pm and Shahin says there was nobody there - the streets were empty.

“I was shocked. The sea was really rough. I looked around. I didn’t know what I should do. There was an elderly couple and I told them to call the police and I went down to the rocks.”  

Shahin said his first thought was to try to find some rope or something else that he could use to pull the boy back to shore. 

'I tried to keep him breathing' 

“We didn’t find anything. The girl came back to me started crying. Another guy came to help me but he couldn’t swim.

“I saw someone who looked like he was going to die in the water. He wasn’t too far from the coast, so I said there is no option but to jump,” Shahin said.  

The boy’s long dark hair was covering his face, so Shahin says he was not sure if the boy was facing up or down. 

So he removed his jacket and jumped into the violent waves trying to get close to the boy. 

“It was impossible to get back to the rocks because the waves were pushing us further and further out. So I tried to stay with him until the emergency service came. I thought at least I can keep his face up and he can keep breathing." 

However, after about 15 minutes of treading water and holding the boy upright, Shahin says his soaked clothes started to weigh him down.  

He started to feel sick as wave after wave submerged him and bobbed him back up to the surface.  

“I started to feel like I wanted to throw up. I had just eaten. I swallowed a lot of sea water. I started to feel very heavy,” he said.  

I could barely breathe. I was being dragged out further out to sea and I couldn't see the boy anymore

Shahin said he then become separated from the boy when a large wave split the two apart. At that point, fearing for his own safety, Shahin started to lie on his back and focus on breathing and staying afloat.  

“I could barely breathe. I was being dragged out further to sea and I couldn't see the boy anymore,” he said.   

Shahin’s attempts to get closer to the boy were futile. As desperation started to take hold, a friend of Shahin tried to throw him a rope but it was too short. 

“I'm not joking. I was between life and death. Everything was in slow motion. I thought this is my time, I am going to die here. I was calling for help to come, for the rescuers,” he said.  

Eventually, as the sea's swell converged and coalseced,  Shahin saw the darting light of a distant coastguard vessel. 

When they rescued him he couldn't even move.  

“My face was blue, my eyes were red like blood. I never experienced anything like this in my life,” he said.  

The Libyan national and the boy have since recovered and are discharged from hospital.