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Jérémie Lusseau / SOS MEDITERRANEE

Stories of survivors

SOS MEDITERRANEE has rescued more than 42,700 people since 2016. 

From an eight-year-old who walked alone from Mali to a Lebanese family with three young children, these are the stories of those rescued. Their harrowing and heartbreaking tales shed a light on the dire humanitarian situation in the Mediterranean.  

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Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE

Testimony

Rashid

Rashid, fled war-torned Sudan. He escaped abuse in Libya on a small rubber boat, drifting for two days among high waves. His phone light likely made the difference between life and death for 36 people.
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Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE

Testimony

Qamar

Qamar was studying sociology at the university of Khartoum, when the war started. He decided to go back to Darfur to be with his family. It became impossible to make ends meet. The soldiers of the Rapid Support Forces were taking over the region, killing thousands and forcibly enrolling young men. He decided to leave.
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Credit: Ville Maali
Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE

Testimony

Isam

It was the violence by the Rapid Support Forces in Darfur that led him to leave. The women of his community were subjected to sexual violence, and the men are enrolled by force or tortured.
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Credit: Ville Maali
Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE

Testimony

Selam

Selam, 18, and his best friend traveled through Sudan and Libya over the course of a year, before being imprisoned in Tripoli and subjected to violence.
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Credit: Ville Maali
Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE

Testimony

Ayman

"If people did not manage to get enough money by calling their family, the Libyan jailers took their organs to sell them and left them to die."
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Credit: Ville Maali
Ville Maali / SOS MEDITERRANEE

Testimony

Rajan

Rajan is a Hindu farmer from Bangladesh. He describes a long history of persecution of Hindu families. He feared for his own life.
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