The Ocean Viking is a search and rescue vessel chartered since April 2019 by the NGO SOS Méditerranée. It replaced the now famous Aquarius, which the NGO had to part with due to numerous political and administrative blockages after having sailed the Mediterranean on board for 3 years.
I had the opportunity to document the eleventh rotation of the Ocean Viking in the Central Mediterranean. It took place during several weeks in March 2021. It resulted in the rescue of 116 people, men, women and children fleeing Libya, who were disembarked in the port of Augusta in Sicily.
According to the International Organization for Migrations, more than 20,000 people have lost their lives in the Mediterranean since 2014, making it the deadliest migration route in the world. The situation has changed significantly in the Central Mediterranean over the past decade. In 2013, the military-humanitarian operation Mare Nostrum, carried by Italy, was launched with significant resources. It was deployed following a shipwreck that cost the lives of nearly 400 people off Lampedusa. Mare Nostrum will save about 100,000 people's lives in less than a year. But it came to an end as quickly as it was deployed, leaving room for operations with far fewer resources. In 2017, NGOs had provided 41% of rescues at sea far ahead of the Italian coast guard and Frontex operations.
Since 2018, the search and rescue coordination mission previously provided by Italy has been entrusted to Libya, a country ravaged by war. "Overall, the Libyan authorities do not relay distress calls. And when we inform them of a distress situation, they either don't answer us, or they don't speak English, even though this is an obligation," says Laurence, spokesperson for SOS Méditerranée. It seems that Libya, the departure point for many boats, is less interested in coordinating with NGOs to save lives than in boarding boats that try to leave its area, meaning a return to horror for their passagers.
More than 60,000 men, women and children have been intercepted at sea and sent back to Libya since 2016. Those who are placed in detention centers are "held in inhumane, even deadly conditions," denounces Amnesty International. In total, more than 32,000 people have been rescued by SOS Méditerranée since its creation in 2015.
A rescue sailor on a semi-rigid passes in front of the Ocean Viking during training.
Crew members hoist bags containing life jackets onto the deck of the boat.
Crew members perform a mass casualty medical exercise and cardiac massage on a dummy.
Two members of the Search And Rescue team stand on the bow platform of a RHIB during training.
Crew members hoist a mannequin lying on a stretcher from a RIB onto the deck of the Ocean Viking during a training session.
A crew member lying on a stretcher is hoisted up stairs by members of the search and rescue team during a simulated helicopter medevac exercise.
A member of the search and rescue team observes the sea through binoculars from the boat's highest platform as daylight begins to break behind him.
Three crew members are observing the sea through binoculars from the boat's highest platform. Two of them have been called to assist by a colleague who has just spotted a boat in distress.
A maritime map of the Libyan coast covering the area from Cap Afrique to Misratah.
A member of the search and rescue team observes a nautical chart on the bridge of the boat as daylight begins to break outside.
Search and rescue team members on a RHIB in the middle of the pitch-dark sea during a night exercise.
The search and rescue coordinator on board the boat watches a radar on the bridge as daylight begins to break outside.
The search and rescue team leader briefs his team before the start of a rescue when a boat in distress has just been spotted nearby.
An overloaded inflatable boat carrying around a hundred migrants, men, women and children, fleeing Libya.
Members of the search and rescue team distribute life jackets to the occupants of an overcrowded inflatable boat carrying around 100 migrants, men, women and children, fleeing Libya.
A survivor leaves the overloaded boat on which he has just been rescued. He is helped by members of the search and rescue team to board the semi-rigid rescue vessel.
Libyan coastguards stand on the platform of launch 656.One of them is firing an automatic rifle into the air to scare off the crew of the Ocean Viking. A few minutes earlier, this speedboat had just carried out an illegal refoulement by intercepting a boat attempting to flee Libya in international waters.
An overloaded inflatable boat carrying around a hundred migrants, men, women and children, fleeing Libya.
A survivor leaves the overloaded boat on which he has just been rescued.He is helped by members of the search and rescue team to board the RHIB.
Two members of the search and rescue team stand on board a RIB during a rescue. A man who has just been rescued is sitting at the stern of the boat, and an oil rig can be seen in the background.
A man who has just been rescued from a boat in distress is lying at the bottom of a RHIB.He has a leg injury that prevents him from moving independently, and he is surrounded by members of the search and rescue team who are preparing to evacuate him using a stretcher.
A member of the search and rescue team helps a young boy onto the rescue RHIB. He has just been evacuated from an overloaded inflatable boat in distress.
The crew's midwife holds a crying infant, while the child's mother removes her lifejacket. They have just been rescued from an endangered inflatable boat containing over a hundred people.
The crew's cultural mediator faces a man who has just been rescued from an endangered inflatable boat containing over a hundred people. His hands rest on the man's shoulders as he cries.
Crew members stand among a crowd of survivors who have just been rescued from an endangered inflatable boat containing over a hundred people.
A doctor treats the wound of a survivor in the ship's clinic. The man suffers from a chemical injury to his leg, caused by the mixture of fuel and seawater.
Two men and two women rescued from a boat in distress read novels on the deck. They are wrapped in blankets and sitting on a bench beneath a map of Europe.
A survivor rescued from a boat in distress wearing a hooded jacket looks out over the horizon and sea from the boat's deck.
The back of a young survivor bearing scars and traces of torture. He recounts how he was repeatedly incarcerated in detention centers in Libya, where he was tortured, in particular with electric current. He recounts how he escaped by being left for dead.
A baby wrapped in a blanket and resting on a cardboard box sleeps in one of the boat's containers, sheltered from the wind.
A pregnant woman nearing the end of her pregnancy is evacuated in a stretcher by an Italian coastguard helicopter during a medical evacuation.
A crew member distributes a food kit to a survivor on the deck of the boat.
Two survivors from behind look at a map of Europe on the deck of the boat.
Survivors seated on the deck of the boat listen and watch as the cultural mediator explains what life on board will be like in the days ahead.
Portrait of a survivor and her two children in front of the container for women and children aboard the boat.
Survivors wrapped in blankets sit on a bench, waiting their turn for a medical consultation in the ship's clinic.One of them is talking to the crew midwife.
A survivor stands at the stern of the boat, arms wide open as he gazes out at the sea and horizon ahead.
A survivor does his hair while looking in the mirror.
Portrait of a young survivor wearing a scarf around her face in front of the container for women and children aboard the boat.
Survivors wrapped in blankets watch the sunrise, the horizon and the sea from the deck of the boat.
Members of the crew look down from the deck of the boat at a coffin carried by the Italian authorities. It contains the body of a man who died on a boat in distress.
The reflection of survivors disembarking from the Ocean Viking bound for Italy in a puddle on the quayside of Augusta harbor.
- Tearsheet -
This report was published in the magazines Femmes ici et ailleurs, La chronique d'Amnesty International and Le Monde des Ados
