Anthony Jean / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Today, during a monitoring flight over the Central Mediterranean, the crew of Albatross, SOS MEDITERRANEE’s and Humanitarian Pilots Initiative’s (HPI) joint aerial monitoring plane, witnessed a harrowing scene: the bodies of 11 people floating at sea, in an advanced state of decomposition. As the plane circled lower, the crew was able to make out further details: some of the bodies still had clothes on, others were kept afloat by tire inner tubes.
While the circumstances and timing of the shipwreck remain unknown, this sighting is a stark reminder of the human consequences of Europe’s deadly policies of indifference and deterrence-at-all-costs. It adds to the growing toll of lives lost on this route, where at least 872 people have died or gone missing since the start of the year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) – a 24% increase compared with the same period in 2025, when at least 702 deaths were documented. These deaths are not tragic accidents but the foreseeable outcome of deliberate policy choices. For more than a decade, EU states have disengaged from their search and rescue responsibilities at sea, while systematically obstructing and criminalising civilian rescue efforts. At the same time, continued support to Libyan Coast Guards, including the provision of resources, training and equipment has made the sea crossing a much riskier journey for the people attempting it.
Fewer people are arriving in Europe via the Central Mediterranean, yet a greater proportion are losing their lives along the way. The number of people arriving in Italy has fallen by 56%, a figure often highlighted by the Italian government as evidence of the success of its migration policies. But the drop in arrivals has not made the crossing safer: the estimated mortality rate now stands at nearly 3%,1 meaning roughly one person dies or goes missing for every 35 people attempting the crossing. These figures demonstrate that fewer departures have not meant fewer deaths, but rather a growing risk to life for those who continue to make the journey.
This is not the only sign of a deteriorating security environment at sea. In recent months, our aerial monitoring mission has observed in International waters a growing Libyan presence – including unmarked speedboats and new Libyan Coast Guard vessels – engaging in threatening or intimidating behaviour towards search and rescue vessels and people in distress. Two recent incidents, witnessed directly by our crew, illustrate this pattern.
On 12 August, while flying over the Central Mediterranean in support of rescue vessels in the area, Albatross witnessed two interceptions by Libyan actors within the space of an hour. At 12:42, the crew had sighted a blue wooden boat carrying approximately 50 people, including three women, and drifting without life-saving equipment. By 16:39, Albatross’ crew observed two unidentified rigid-hulled inflatable boats (RHIBs) at the scene: one towing the now-empty wooden boat, the other carrying people who had already been taken on board.
Less than an hour later, at 17:34, Albatross witnessed a second violent interception in the same area. The incident involved a black, overcrowded rubber boat carrying approximately 30 people, including children and babies, with no visible life-saving equipment on board. The boat was navigating erratically in the Libyan Search and Rescue Region north of Tripoli when the crew observed a Libyan Coast Guard patrol vessel TS 300-class approaching at high speed.
According to SOS Humanity, the nearby rescue vessel Humanity 1, which was in a position to assist the people in distress, was instead ordered by the Libyan Coast Guard to leave the area and proceed north.
The patrol vessel then pursued the rubber boat for approximately 40 minutes while conducting a series of aggressive and dangerous manoeuvres, ramming into the rubber boat multiple times and attempting to tie it with a rope while Underway, endangering the lives of people and the integrity of the boat before the interception was completed.
The TS 300 patrol vessel was supplied to Libyan authorities through SIBMMIL, the main EU-funded border and migration-management programme in Libya. When EU-funded vessels are used in violent incidents like this one, questions about responsibility arise which European institutions have so far chosen not to answer. Without accountability, such incidents are likely to be repeated.
1 This mortality rate is calculated using data on arrivals (UNHCR), deaths and disappearances (IOM’s Missing Migrants Project), and interceptions (IOM Libya). Data on interceptions is limited: Tunisian authorities have not published interception data since June 2024, and the most recent data on interceptions by Libyan authorities, via IOM Libya, covers only up to 25 July. The calculation therefore relies on the most recent available estimate for this period. As IOM’s own figures are widely considered an undercount of deaths and disappearances at sea, the true mortality rate is likely higher than this estimate suggests.
