Camille Martin Juan / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Survivors adrift for days amid glaring gaps in sea rescue response
Marseille, 27 May, 2025 – Between May 24th and 26th, over more than 48 hours, four actors rendered assistance to a wooden boat in distress in the Central Mediterranean carrying 116 people. We were one merchant ship, one supply vessel, SOS MEDITERRANEE’S rescue ship the Ocean Viking, and volunteers of the civil hotline Alarm Phone. This wooden boat was left in worsening weather conditions for over two days at sea. This happened while the maritime authorities abdicated their responsibility and issued instructions in violation of maritime and human rights law.
Despite early alerts issued by the civil distress hotline Alarm Phone, and multiple communications to Libyan, Italian and Maltese maritime authorities, no adequate support from the responsible Rescue Coordination Centres was provided. This left the three vessels to respond alone, without guidance or coordination. In the meantime, a second distress case alerted by Alarm Phone, only 23 nm Nautical Miles north of the wooden boat with 116 people, was rescued by the Italian Coastguard, showing that rescue capacity was available in the area.
A first operation took place on Saturday night, May 24th, in rough weather and darkness, when merchant vessel MV Bobic managed to evacuate only 35 of the 116 shipwrecked persons, since MV Bobic lost sight of the distress boat. Despite desperate calls for assistance and instructions to the responsible MRCC, the Shipmaster had no other choice but to rely on civil organisations (Alarm Phone and SOS MEDITERRANEE) to respond to a situation of distress and imminent danger. During the MV Bobic rescue attempt, 3 people drowned at sea. A merchant vessel without the needed coordination is not an adequate asset to provide assistance in mass rescue operations. In addition, despite their high concerns for legal implications, the Flag state of MV Bobic stated “MRCC Rome has coordinated with JRCC Libya to ensure that the 35 migrants are removed from the vessel as soon as possible,” which resulted in the forced return of survivors in Libya, against international and maritime law. They were transhipped to the Libyan Coastguard off Zawiyah and reportedly taken to the notorious detention centre “Osama prison” in Zawiyah.
People who were left on board of the wooden boat were without reach for almost one day. On Sunday 25th at night, the Italian Flag supply vessel, ECO ONE, rescued 26 people from the same wooden boat in distress but could not complete the evacuation due to bad weather. They were assigned Lampedusa as a place of safety. They had transmitted the information to the Italian authorities in the afternoon, but no alert was shared with the Ocean Viking, which could have supported the rescue effort earlier.
Fellipe Lopes / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Fellipe Lopes / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Shortly after, during the night of the 25th May, SOS MEDITERRANEE’s search and rescue ship the Ocean Viking, rescued the 53 remaining survivors, including 6 children, 19 women, and 28 unaccompanied minors. Despite the severe medical needs onboard and the emotional trauma of survivors being separated from one another, and having witnessed the drowning of their peers, the Ocean Viking was assigned to Livorno, several days away, as a port of safety to disembark. Last night, five survivors had to be medically evacuated by the Italian Coast Guards off Lampedusa. Among them, one 8 –month-old baby, and one person who almost drowned before being rescued.
The medical conditions of survivors on board reflects the harrowing ordeal at sea, from orthopaedic injuries to chemical burns from the mix of gasoline and salt water. All need urgent medical care that cannot be delayed. The remaining survivors onboard are also in a fragile health state. Many have fuel burns, injuries from extreme violence and torture and all have been through the traumatic loss of life at sea.
This morning, the Ocean Viking did another stop in Porto Empedocle, to comply with the decision of the Juvenile Court of Palermo to disembark minors and families, as requested by SOS MEDITERRANEE. Ignoring our multiple appeals for a full disembarkation, the remaining 13 people on board were not allowed to disembark, forcing another separation, since Livorno was confirmed as the port of safety.
In this climate of disorder and ignorance, we see how international maritime and humanitarian law violations become both frequent and normalised. As Alarm Phone, we accompany boats in distress daily. Again and again, we see how boats are ignored, and rescue is delayed. We also witness all too often, how survivors are forcibly returned to where they have sought to escape from and where they are not safe. What people in distress have to endure are not tragic accidents but the direct and foreseeable consequence of the EU border regime, whose primary objective is not the rescuing of people but their deterrence.
Even with civil society closely monitoring these violations, many questions remain unanswered. We call for a thorough investigation into the events surrounding this incident. It is imperative to establish accountability for the delays and mismanagement of the rescue operation, and to determine who was responsible for instructing the MV Bobic to disembark people in Libya, as well as the three people who died at sea.
“When a boat is in distress, cooperation and coordination can save lives. Silence and inaction can kill. There is no room for political debate. When people risk drowning, we already know that delays in responding to a distress case can lead to disaster, as has already occurred, for example, in Pylos or Cutro. The Central Mediterranean Sea cannot continue to be a sea of indifference. It must become a space of shared conscience and responsibility. Rescue at sea requires high standards of professionalism, and SOS MEDITERRANEE complies with that. Still, civil organisations cannot be left uncoordinated or criminalised,” declares Angelo, Search and Rescue Coordinator on the Ocean Viking. “We ask states to urgently restore effective coordination of Search and Rescue operations in the Mediterranean. Lives depend on it,” he concludes.
