ISTANBUL: Turkey’s coastguard said on Wednesday it had rescued a Syrian refugee who clung on alone to a sinking boat for his life after it went down while seeking to cross the Aegean Sea to Greece. The coastguard released dramatic footage of the incident on Monday when Syrian refugee Pelen Hussein was picked up by rescuers off the Turkish port of Edremit in the western Baliksehir region. The pictures showed Hussein, looking exhausted, hypothermic and desperate, clinging on to the bow of the boat as it gradually sank vertically into the water. The coastguard rescue helicopter spotted him and the rescuer winched down into the water. He urged Hussein in English to “jump into the water!” and then they were both winched up to the helicopter. Pelen Hussein was one of just half a dozen rescued.