Abir was rescued by the Ocean Viking on 24 May 2026, together with 67 other survivors, from a fibreglass boat in distress in the Maltese Search and Rescue Region. survivors were exhausted and dehydrated after hours at sea and disembarked in Savona on 28 May.
I left Bangladesh because poverty, insecurity and the lack of work made it difficult to imagine a future there. My father arranged for me to travel with a dalal**, hoping I would find better opportunities elsewhere.
Instead, I spent a year in Libya trying to stay alive. I suffered forms of violence from the jailers that I still cannot speak about. I was beaten repeatedly on my arms, legs and knees, sometimes with fists and sometimes with metal rods. The pain spread through my entire body until I could barely move. Whenever I asked questions to the people who detained me, they became angry and beat me even more.
I lived in constant fear. I never knew when the violence would begin or when it would stop. At night, I could barely sleep. As the months passed, I lost hope. I stopped thinking about the future and focused only on surviving one day at a time.
Even now, I struggle to believe that it is over. I feel sad most of the time, and it is difficult to escape the memories of Libya.
Before, football made me happy. I knew all the players. Now, when the memories become too much, I try to think about football. It gives my mind somewhere else to go.
I do not ask much of the future. I just hope to live like a normal person.
*Name changed to protect his identity.
**A dalal is an informal broker or intermediary.
