Mediterranean Sea – In the pitch black darkness of early Thursday morning, the rescue ship Humanity 1 approached a sky-blue wooden ship in distress in the central Mediterranean.
At least 126 people were on board, suffering from hypothermia, dehydration and exhaustion from clinging to the boat for hours as it struggled to stay upright in waves as high as two meters (six feet).
Cries for help in Arabic echoed across the waves before dawn.
“We were prepared for death, we were dying,” a 30-year-old Syrian survivor told Al Jazeera as he clung to the orange rescue RIB (rigid inflatable boat) transporting refugees to the mother ship while battling high waves. . .
Among the survivors was a newborn and 30 minors, most of whom had embarked alone on the treacherous Mediterranean crossing without an adult to accompany them.
“The newborn was completely covered with blankets, it was not easy to recognize that there was a baby inside.
“This time we also had very old people, some of them couldn't even walk on their own due to dehydration and fatigue,” said Viviana di Bartolo, search and rescue coordinator for Humanity 1.
According to survivors, they had left the Libyan coast two days ago and were in danger due to poor weather conditions and high waves when they were intercepted by the Humanity 1 while drifting in Maltese waters.
They boarded Humanity 1 barefoot, completely soaked in salt water and evidently suffering from cold and severe dehydration.
Many were disoriented and feared they would be taken back to Libya.
'Not even treated like humans'
Survivors spoke to Al Jazeera about the ordeals they had endured crossing the Mediterranean, especially human rights violations on the Libyan side.
A young Syrian survivor in his 20s, suffering from severe hypothermia, said he had attempted to cross from Tripoli into southern Italy three times and had been intercepted each time by the Libyan coast guard.
“It's been hell. Libya is hell. I tried to leave for eight months without success, again and again they forced us to return,” she said.
Another survivor aboard the Humanity 1 testified about inhumane conditions in Libyan prisons over the past year, after being forced to return in a failed attempt to leave the northern African coast in early 2023.
“You don't understand, they didn't even treat us like humans,” he said.
Humanity 1 was assigned a safe port in Genoa, northern Italy, but will request a closer port to disembark the suffering survivors sooner.
“Due to the harsh weather conditions and the fact that we have several vulnerable cases and people in need of medical attention on board, we will ask for a closer safe port,” says Lukas Kaldenhoff, press officer for Humanity 1.
'Ships in danger'
Desperate people making these dangerous journeys have often paid every penny they have to human traffickers who load them aboard rickety vessels with no concern for their safety.
As boats flounder on the high seas, often the only hope these refugees have for survival is for their plea for help to be answered by a ship willing to help.
“They [the survivors] We were not only in danger from the water conditions, but also from the ship,” said di Bartolo, exhausted after transporting refugees between the wooden ship and the mother ship for more than two hours.
“It was very poorly structured, it didn't have any safety equipment or people who could navigate. The people on board did not have life jackets or even basic items such as water, food or even a bathroom. “This type of boat is not designed to sail safely, at all,” he continued.
Under international law, ships have a clear duty to assist ships in distress.
That definition is determined on a case-by-case basis but, according to di Bartolo, the term “ship in distress” is applicable to almost all departures from Tunisia and Libya that aim to cross the central Mediterranean route.
By Wednesday night, the crew of Humanity 1 had received two different distress calls about ships in distress, and they desperately tried to clarify whether another ship was nearby.
The first aid came from Frontex, the European border control, on a wooden boat carrying 40 people and the other from Alarm Phone. [a hotline for people in distress] regarding 90 people.
“We are now certain that both calls were referring to the ship we rescued this morning,” Kaldenhoff said.
Humanity 1 is operated by the German NGO SOS Humanity and has been carrying out risky search and rescue missions throughout the Mediterranean Sea from 2022.
According to the International Organization for Migration, at least 2,498 refugees, migrants and asylum seekers drowned in 2023 while crossing the central Mediterranean, making it the deadliest year since 2017. But the real number is believed to be much higher. .
The central Mediterranean is the deadliest known migration route in the world, with more than 17,000 deaths and disappearances recorded by the Missing Migrants Project since 2014.
Most departures come from Libya and Tunisia, but refugees and migrants have often traveled far from countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Turkey or Egypt, fleeing violence, discrimination and loss of their livelihoods.
