SOS MEDITERRANEE / Charles Thiephaine
Mohamed was rescued on the 27th of January 2025 from a boat in distress in the Maltese Search and Rescue Region. He was rescued along with 92 people traveling on 2 boats, following a Mayday Relay from Frontex and an Alarm Phone alert.
That night our team faced a critical situation, when a 7-year-old child’s heart stopped beating, after the rescue. She was urgently evacuated to Malta by helicopter along with her mother and sister, but she unfortunately died the same night.
Charles Thiefaine / SOS MEDITERRANEE
I am from Lebanon. I’m from Saida but I lived in Joun. I am 20 years old.
I love to study. I was studying at school, that’s where I learnt French. I studied Mechanical Engineering for three years. My dad also worked as a mechanic. I want to work but there is no work in Lebanon. Most of the people don’t have jobs. The university costs 7000 dollars. Then a student must wait for two years. My cousin finished university five years ago and he still hasn’t found a job. I want to study, and I want to be in a safe country. I’m also a swimmer. When I was 4 years old, my parents signed me up to a swimming club. At 16, I won a race at the national championships of Lebanon. At 17, I got a certificate to train people how to swim.
A lot of people back home lost a member of their family, their mother or brother. I lost my friend. Israel bombed Lebanon. They bombed my village. 27 people died in my village in two houses in Joun. I was in in car when a bomb fell 20 meters behind me. Everyone gets bombed. You can’t go to the university, it’s too dangerous. I lost two semesters; I stayed at home. I cannot do anything. My dad can’t work because of the bombs. People say that Lebanon will be okay, but I don’t think it’s a safe country.
I met my wife in Lebanon, but she is in Norway now. She lived in Norway for 17 years. I got engaged three months ago. I don’t want to get married over the phone. We are going to get married in Norway. It’s been one year that she hasn’t come back to Lebanon because of the war. It’s unfair to get married remotely. I applied at the embassy but when I applied Israel started to bomb and the embassy closed. I want to work and live in a good country.
Charles Thiefaine / SOS MEDITERRANEE
Charles Thiefaine / SOS MEDITERRANEE
I went to Libya because it’s easy to go there by plane and I didn’t know that it would be that dangerous. They don’t have humanity there. I stayed there for two months and a half. There were a lot of viruses and scabies. They didn’t give us food. We drank from the toilet water. They boil the water to clean it. I boiled it and waited for it to be cold then I drank it. We ate only can of tuna. I paid 13 000 dollars. I thought I will travel in a good boat. In Lebanon the smugglers told be me they will provide a good boat but at the end not at all.
In Lebanon you can die, in the boat you can die.
When war started many people asked if I wanted to get out of the country. If I knew what it was going to be like, then I would not have gone.
The first thing I will do in Norway is to learn the language, then to continue my studies and get a certificate. I applied at Alpha school, a linguistic school in Norway. My wife speaks Norwegian, and it will be easy for me to learn beside her.
When we left Libya, we had to change our boat twice as the engine kept on failing. We departed from Zawiya. The smuggler told us that it’s the best boat. They were two children, three women. It was very dangerous. There was this little girl onboard who died*. This girl was sitting beside me during all the journeys; we were talking together. It’s so dangerous… (Mohamed starts crying). We waited at least two hours and half for help before the Ocean Viking arrived. This little girl was so cute…
Collected by Lucille Guenier
