EYES IN THE SKY: documenting what happens in the Central Mediterranean

The mission is run by SOS MEDITERRANEE in partnership with Humanitarian Pilots Initiative, aboard the aircraft ALBATROSS UNO. It is not a rescue operation. The Hands-on rescue work is carried out by SAR vessels, including our ship, the Ocean Viking, along with other NGO-operated rescue vessels. ALBATROSS operates above; different operation – but no less necessary. What the ALBATROSS UNO crews do is observe, record, and report – immediately, accurately, and in accordance with international law. In a context where lives are at stake, the need to act without delay is not optional, it’s essential.

Between February and March 2026, the aircraft flew 15 times. The crews identified 19 boats in distress. At least 820 people at risk. Each distress case a life-or-death situation. These figures, taken individually, point to isolated emergencies. But when viewed together, they reveal a consistent and deeply concerning pattern: departures on unseaworthy boats, prolonged periods without assistance, a failure of coordination that leaves distress calls unanswered. And interventions that too often end not in a rescue and disembarkation to a place of safety, but in interceptions and forced returns.

Five illegal interceptions were documented. Two witnessed directly from the air: people in clear distress, intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard and Libyan militias and forcibly returned to a country that cannot be considered a place of safety according to numerous international humanitarian organisations and UN bodies. A country where survivors consistently report arbitrary detention, violence, and systemic abuse as a matter of routine. On three further occasions, interceptions were confirmed through consistent verified evidence. None of this is new. All of it remains deeply, persistently under-documented.

And then there are the empty boats. Burned hulls. Capsized wrecks. Deflated dinghies drifting with no one left aboard. These are familiar signs. Experience has shown that such traces often point to possible shipwrecks, disappearances, and tragedies at sea.

According to the IOM, 634 people have already been reported dead or missing in the Central Mediterranean in 2026 alone. That number is almost certainly underestimated because sadly many deadly shipwreck cases leave no trace behind.

The ALBATROSS mission helps connect individual events and reveal a broader system at work, one that is unfolding within a shifting European policy landscape where migration governance is increasingly shaped by control and the externalisation of borders. In this context, an independent aerial monitoring mission like ALBATROSS plays a crucial role in ensuring that what happens over these waters does not go unseen, and that those responsible – at every level – cannot claim they did not know.

Albatross will go back to the skies soon. Follow us, support us, and stay tuned.