Story highlights EU-based rescue workers say they cannot help those in Turkish waters

Australian lifeguard says his team was helpless as 31 people drowned on far side of EU border

'As a lifeguard, you want to help everyone,' rescue worker says

(CNN) On one recent and frightening day, two boats maneuvered close to each other in the Aegean Sea.

In one boat stood a mother, holding her baby. In the other stood an Australian volunteer lifeguard named Simon Lewis.

The mother, desperate, wanted to throw her baby the 15 feet or so to Lewis -- maybe to ensure the baby had a better life, or maybe just to ensure the child survived the crossing.

The migrants were trying to get to the Greek island of Lesbos from Turkey, thereby reaching the European Union.

And here was the problem: If Lewis caught the baby and took it back to Lesbos, he knew, he could be charged with people smuggling for helping the baby cross an international border.

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