Over 180 people died in the Mediterranean last week. Preventable deaths, the result of deliberate political choices. This is the deadliest start to a year on record in the Mediterranean. Deterrence has replaced assistance. States must restore search&rescue. Read our statement👇 bit.ly/readourstate...
While we are grateful to the #Miskar platform crew, described by survivors as 'doing their best to take care of them', we denounce the competent authorities who failed to coordinate a timely rescue for these women, men, children and babies in distress.
They are now finally safe.
Ville Maali/SOSMEDITERRANEE
The people had spent 2 nights at sea and 4 nights exposed to a stormy weather on the platform before we were able to rescue them.
Many endured this additional hardship after fleeing conflicts, wars and persecutions in their home country, across the #Sahara and in #Libya.
Ville Maali/SOSMEDITERRANEE
Some survivors report being sold by #Tunisian forces to #Libyan militias at the border between the 2 countries after being intercepted at sea.
Others recount being #enslaved for months by unidentified #Libyan groups, leading to people losing their life in the #detention #centers.
Ville Maali/SOSMEDITERRANEE
After sailing 1100km for 3,5 days from the #Miskar offshore platform, we finally disembarked 116 survivors in Marina di Carrara, the Place of Safety assigned by Italian authorities.
Among them, more than a third were #unaccompanied #minors, who are particularly vulnerable.
Ville Maali/SOSMEDITERRANEE
Several alerts of boats in distress were issued while #OceanViking was sent 1296kms away. Some were intercepted back to Libya, some rescued by Italian CG, some remain unknown.
We rescued 100 people in one day, 43,073 in the past 10 years. We will be here as long as we are needed
Ville Maali/SOSMEDITERRANEE
After navigating for more than 4 days, the 100 survivors rescued on March 5 finally disembarked in Ancona.
Some, including teenagers, have been trying to reach safety for years, escaping war, persecution and violence in their home countries and #Libya.
10 years of civilian search&rescue at sea.
#SOSMEDITERRANEE releases its Ten-Year Report and a Manifesto calling to restore proactive SAR in the Central Mediterranean.
43,078 people assisted
457 operations
Two ships. One mission.
bit.ly/Ten_year_rep...
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We recovered the survivors including women and unaccompanied minors, and brought them on board the #OceanViking for care.
Survivors suffered from cold stress, seasickness and fatigue.
There are now 100 people onboard slowly recovering and participating in protection activities.
Ville Maali / SOSMEDITERRANEE
Ville Maali / SOSMEDITERRANEE
Yesterday, as we were heading towards #Ancona, the assigned Place of Safety, we received an alert from @alarmphone.bsky.social about a wooden boat in distress 30NM away with 64 people on board. After receiving green light from Italian authorities, we rescued the drifting overcrowded boat.
Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Survivors, who come mainly from Sudan, include 8 unaccompanied minors. They report spending two nights at sea after fleeing #Tripoli.
We recovered them weak and very cold. They were exposed to strong gasoline vapours and show signs of intoxication.
They are now slowly recovering.
Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Last night, after receiving an alert from @alarmphone.bsky.social we sailed south and found a small rubber boat drifting in the middle of high waves, in the Libyan Search and Rescue Region.
We brought back 36 people to safety on the #OceanViking.
Eventually Italian Coast Guard later confirmed the rescue.
Approx 100 people survived.
Every life saved at sea depends on coordination between independent aerial monitors, authorities, and #SAR assets.
When information is shared and #legal instructions are given, people survive.
Tess Barthes / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Tess Barthes / SOS MEDITERRANEE
#ALBATROSSUNO located a boat in distress 60nm SE of Malta. A merchant vessel diverted to assist - Maltese authorities ordered her to stop. We witnessed her change course away.
How despite our assessment can a RCC instruct a MV ready to assist no to proceed and abandon people?
Without independent aerial monitoring in the Mediterranean, people vanish in silence. Together with @hpiswiss.bsky.social , #ALBATROSSUNO flies to bear witness and ensure safe rescue at sea.
EU member States must stop funding illegal interceptions.
Tess Barthes / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Tess Barthes / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Several people were rescued by civil SAR vessels and the Italian Coast Guard, including a woman who gave birth on board a rubber boat.
Some of the boats we spotted were on fire, others were drifting, half-submerged, with no engine and no markings. A sign of prior interceptions.
Tess Barthes / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Tess Barthes / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Tess Barthes / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Between 27 Feb. & 1 March, #ALBATROSSUNO flew for approx 12 hours over the Central Mediterranean, monitoring and searching for distress cases.
We spotted 10 boats and approximately 210 people in distress at sea. Every time, we relayed the information gathered to the authorities.
Interceptions mean returning people to a place of detention, violence and abuse.
Rescue ends with disembarkation in a port of safety. #Libya is not considered a place of safety under international law.
Tess Barthes / SOS MEDITERRANEE
We witnessed the interception by the Libyan Coast Guard of an unseaworthy overcrowded black rubber boat carrying approx 30 people on March 1, while monitoring with our civilian aircraft #ALBATROSSUNO in the Libyan SAR zone. That is not rescue.
Survivors reported severe human rights abuses while imprisoned in #Libya and described alleged coordination between smuggling networks, detention centre personnel and Libyan Coast Guard units that benefit from ongoing #EU funding, support and training.
Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE
We are relieved to have brought 147 people to safety in #Livorno after three & half days at sea. Yet at least 606 people have already died in the Mediterranean in 2026, the deadliest start of a year since #IOM began recording data in 2014, with many people still unaccounted for.
Max Cavallari / SOS MEDITERRANEE
No #searchandrescue response was launched before the shipwreck. Rescue assets reached the scene only after the tragedy. Judicial proceedings are ongoing. Cutro shows what happens when distress at sea is not met with precaution and prompt rescue. #Accountability remains essential.
Valeria Taurino / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Three years ago, on 26 February 2023, a wooden boat crashed against the rocks and sank a few meters from the shore of #Cutro, Italy. 94 people died, including at least 35 children. The boat had been detected hours earlier without any appropriate reaction from authorities.
Delayed assistance and coordination with #Libyan authorities can result in people being returned to a country that cannot be considered safe. Policies that facilitate interceptions expose survivors to serious harm and undermine #international #maritime #obligations.
Lucrezia Frabetti/ SOS MEDITERRANEE
Lucrezia Frabetti/ SOS MEDITERRANEE
@sea-watch.org Aurora reached the scene minutes before a Libyan CG unit. The 22 people on board were rescued, and one was medically evacuated shortly after. In the #CentralMediterranean, outcomes depend on who arrives first, determining life or death and access to a place of safety
Monday, Feb.23 rescue in the Maltese SRR reflects a broader pattern in the Central Mediterranean. An Italian aerial asset had already spotted the boat. Once on the scene, #ALBATROSSUNO relayed the case to the authorities and to civil SAR actors.
Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE
As part of its civilian aerial monitoring activities conducted with @hpiswiss.bsky.social, #AlbatrossUNO is carrying out observation flights over the Central Mediterranean. Timely sighting & the presence of rescue assets remain essential to saving lives. No one in distress should go unseen.
Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Today, #AlbatrossUNO was monitoring from the sky, and sighted an overcrowded boat in the Maltese Search & Rescue Region, allowing the #OceanViking to rescue 50 people in distress. The information was relayed to the competent authorities in line with international and Italian regulations.
Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE
The double-decker wooden boat in distress was found in the overlapping Tunisian and Maltese Search & Rescue Region, and the rescue was acknowledged by Tunisian MRCC.
Italian authorities assigned us the distant port of Livorno as a Place of Safety, over 3 days of navigation away
.
Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Last night, the crew on the #OceanViking performed the rescue of 97 people, including 14 unaccompanied minors, following an alert by @alarm_phone.
Many were dehydrated and two people required medical intervention.
They had left from Zuwarah, Libya, two days earlier.