A rescue team from SOS Méditerranée prepares to disembark from the Ocean Viking toward a rubber dinghy carrying over 100 people in distress. The call came just before sunrise, triggering a fast deployment. Since launching operations in 2015, the European maritime-humanitarian organization has rescued more than 40,000 people in the central Mediterranean — the world’s deadliest migration route — in partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
A Libyan smuggler approaches the Ocean Viking in international waters off the coast of Libya, after tracking the vessel’s location via GPS. The Search and Rescue team spotted a white, overcrowded fiberglass boat with 59 survivors, who were brought on board. None of the shipwrecked persons had lifejackets. At the end of the evacuation, the face-masked driver left the scene at high speed. Armed and unpredictable, these men often operate with total impunity, delivering people in distress in exchange for high profits from human trafficking networks.
A group of Eritrean women chant and hold religious symbols after their rescue in the Central Mediterranean. Among them are pregnant women and toddlers. They flew Eritrea, one of the most repressive countries in the world, escaping indefinite conscription, forced labor, and widespread human rights abuses, remaining among the top nationalities crossing the Mediterranean to seek asylum in Europe.
A reproduction of a handwritten letter by Tehreem Khatoon, 26, from Parachinar, Pakistan, is shown with a passport photo placed on top — the only items he managed to preserve after being rescued in the Central Mediterranean. The letter details his asylum story. A former soldier in the Pakistani Army, Khatoon left due to mental health struggles and spent eight months in Libya. His elderly parents remain in Pakistan.
A child is held in his father’s arms after being rescued hours earlier aboard the Ocean Viking. They are inside a container that has been converted into a shelter on the ship. These gatherings prepare people on the move for their legal arrival in Italy and set rules aboard. He was one of six infants rescued, all originally from Eritrea.
A rescued man holds a small bird he found drifting at sea before being saved by the Ocean Viking. Survivors often spend days exposed to the elements in fragile wooden boats before help arrives. Following rescues, Italian authorities frequently assign distant ports of disembarkation—requiring up to five days of navigation—delaying medical care and draining the ship’s resources, despite the often critical physical and psychological condition of those on board.
Silhouettes of men from Parachinar, Pakistan, who fled ongoing sectarian violence in the region. Parachinar, located in Pakistan’s Kurram District near the Afghan border, has been the site of frequent clashes between Sunni and Shia communities, leading to cycles of violence and displacement. Many people on the move from Parachinar seek safety after years of religious conflict have uprooted families and destroyed livelihoods.
The Ocean Viking rescue ship is seen off the Maltese coast at night after responding to a distress call in international waters. Operated by SOS Méditerranée, the Norwegian-flagged vessel can carry over 300 survivors and has rescued more than 39,000 people since 2016 along one of the world’s deadliest migration routes. In 2022, it was briefly detained in Italy amid a crackdown on humanitarian operations at sea.
Boubacar, a 21-year-old originally from Conakry, Guinea, is pictured before sunrise, hours away from arriving at the port of Marina di Carrara, Italy. He left Guinea, crossed the desert into Mali, traveled through Tunisia, and was imprisoned in Libya, where he endured abuses and forced labor. After three attempts, he finally escaped and boarded a wooden boat that SOS Méditerranée later rescued.
An empty wooden boat was spotted by the team of SOS Méditarranée on board the #OceanViking, on the central Mediterranean Sea, close to the Libyan coastline border in international waters.
This series follows the intimate aftermath of rescues at sea aboard the Ocean Viking, a humanitarian vessel operated by SOS Méditerranée, men, women, and children who have fled violence, captivity, and forced labor in Libya begin a fragile journey toward safety. Fear, silence, and resilience during this transitional moment — a passage between hope and the uncertainty of a new chapter in Italy.
