On October 30, 2024, Joser, age 23, was among 25 men rescued from a wooden boat in the overlapping Maltese and Tunisian Search and Rescue Regions. The rescue followed several alerts issued by Alarm Phone, a hotline for people in distress at sea, regarding the vessel’s distress.
*Name changed to preserve privacy.
I left Egypt with my uncle when I was 15 years. We come from a poor family and we needed to provide for them as my father was already too old to work.
When we arrived to Libya, the smugglers trapped us in a container. I was the youngest there. One of the Libyan jailers tortured me in front of all the others telling them: Look what I do to a kid, imagine what I can do to you adults.
They would put metal in the fire and then make holes in my skin. We would only receive food every three days.
As we couldn’t pay the money the Libyans were asking for, they made us work in a farm. One day, my uncle decided we needed to escape. As we ran off, our jailers followed us at full speed in a car and shot at us.
My uncle got shot and fell dead on the ground, and I got a bullet through my leg. They caught me and brought me back to the container. They disinfected my leg with alcohol and sewed the wound with a fish hook.
I stayed on their farm for four years, working for freedom, and then I tried to escape again. They caught me again and wounded me to prevent me from trying to leave.
One night, I was taken in the back of the car with my a scarf on my eyes and my hands attached together. They took me out of the trunk and left me in a deserted street.
I eventually stopped a car with a man. I thought I was finally saved, but he thought I had been left like that because I had been kidnapped because I was rich, and he kidnapped me too, to try and get money from me. He exploited me for seven months.
I eventually found the courage to escape from that place. I eventually got to Tripoli and managed to work and save money.
I had lost all contact with my family back in Egypt so I decided to try to cross to Europe to escape Libya.
After I paid 5,800 euros to the smuggler, I was pushed at sea on a flimsy boat with barely any food and water. We were in the waves for four days before you found us.
When I saw the lifeboats coming, I thought to myself that if it was the Libyans, I would jump off the boat, as I’d prefer to die than to go back to Libya.
Since the moment I realised you were there to rescue me and the 25 other people in the boat, I felt like I was on the bottom of the sea and that I was brought back to the surface.
When the doctor took care of me, it was the first time I felt considered in many years.
The only thing I want is to be able to work safely and to call my family and tell them I am alive.
Joser* was extremely grateful for the way he was treated on board. He kept on thanking the medical team. While disembarking, he turned around several times, making hearts with his fingers and touching his heart.
All photos by Camille Martin Juan
