Out in the open sea, Bohyda faced death every single day and scared, seasick and lacking an appetite she would wet her lips with the little water she had.

The 50-year old woman from Gaza arrived safely from Egypt on Thursday but her daughter, 22, and fiancé were not allowed to move in with the rest of the family at the Ħal Far open centre.

Rocking on a small chair, squeezing one hand in the other, Bohyda admitted she felt devastated that she had been separated from her daughter.

The former project engineer left for Egypt with seven relatives and then fled the North African country in the hope she would join her relatives in Sweden.

Bohyda is one of the 258 migrants rescued by a cargo ship on Thursday after leaving Egypt on a boat days before.

The group, which included an unusually high number of children, was brought to Malta in the evening and some of them were transferred to the former Naxxar counting hall after they refused to cooperate with the authorities during their interviews and medical check-ups.

On Monday, 68 adults, 19 girls and 38 boys were taken to Ħal Far tent village and 42 unaccompanied minors were moved to Dar il-Liedna, in Fgura, an open centre housing children.

Another 43 were kept at Lyster Barracks and 48 at the Safi detention centre.

Bohyda is still waiting to be reunited with her daughter who arrived safely in Malta on Thursday after fleeing conflict in the Middle East.

A spokeswoman for the Home Affairs Ministry said the government was aware of situations similar to Bohyda’s and it was still looking into claims of people alleging they were related.

“Our priority is minors and their families,” she said, adding that the people in detention were single adults or did not have children.

We had to decide whether we were going to stay and die or start from scratch

Times of Malta yesterday spoke to some of those at Ħal Far, including 24-year-old Rido, who also arrived on Thursday.

The young man from Damascus said some of the migrants had lost their relatives and houses and the less fortunate ones “lost everything”.

More than three million people fled the war ravaging Syria and, according to the UN, a third of these ran away in the past year alone. The conflict has forced nearly half of the Syrians to flee their homes.

“We moved from city to city until there was nowhere else to go.

“We had to decide whether we were going to stay and die or start from scratch. We had two options: Turkey or Egypt. We entered Egypt legally but, as soon as we reached there, they closed the borders,” Rido, who fled with six other relatives, said.

Some of the migrants who fled Egypt last week and were brought to Malta were moved to the Ħal Far centre on Monday.

Egypt, also experiencing conflict, did not feel safe. “We had to constantly look over our shoulders and tried to survive as best as we could until we realised there was no future for us there,” he said.

For the second time, they had to decide whether they were going to stay or leave and, after paying about 2,000 each, they were shoved on to a boat. The boat handlers took their documents and any money they had left.

Bohyda recounted: “We saw death everyday on the boat. For about seven days we did not see anything but water.

“Most of us did not feel like eating anything and I would wet my lips just to survive. Water was scarce; we were scared and seasick.”

At times they had to resort to drinking from the engine water and left the rest in God’s hands.

Bohyda said she had fled for Europe as they felt their human rights would be safeguarded here. But she too hopes to join her relatives in the north.

“Malta is a good country but our aim was to get to Italy and join our relatives in Europe. In Malta, the authorities are doing their best to accommodate us but larger countries will be able to provide more support.

“We want to be able to visit Malta as tourists, not refugees,” Rido said, adding that the language and cultural barriers at the centre did not help.

Ultimately, however, he wants to go back to Syria.

“I hope the war ends and we can go back. Like everyone else, we believe that our country is the best and, once you go to Syria, you don’t want to leave.

“We left to escape war, a war which is not ours.”