Doaa Al Zamel (born 9 July 1995 in Daraa, Syria) is a Syrian refugee and one of 11 survivors of the 2014 Malta migrant shipwreck that killed approximately 500 people.
After Abdel Fattah el-Sisi took over Egypt, her fiancé Bassem and Al Zamel paid people smugglers to flee to Europe in 2014.
After the change of Egyptian leadership from Mohamed Morsi to Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, circumstances deteriorated for refugees like Bassem and Al Zamel and they decided to flee to Sweden for a better quality of life.
[1][3] On September 6 2014, Al Zamel and Bassem boarded an overcrowded Egyptian fishing trawler[5] with approximately 500 other refugees and migrants.
[1] Al Zamel's story is featured in the Book A Hope More Powerful than the Sea by Melissa Fleming of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
[7] In 2018, the producers received criticism for commissioning white American writer Lena Dunham to adapt the novel for the screen, being accused of whitewashing.