On Monday 25 April 2022, the SOS MEDITERRANEE rescue team rescued 94 people in a complex operation with the Libyan coastguard on scene. A few hours later, survivors shared a heart-breaking event with the team onboard: 15 people on the overcrowded rubber boat fell into the water during the night. Only 3 made it back, the others likely drowned. 12 people are officially missing. Claire, communications officer and photographer, explains this sad sequence of events. 

Professional photographer, Nissim embarked onboard Ocean Viking for his first mission, on January 16, 2023. He joined SOS MEDITERRANEE’s communication team to continue documenting the tragic reality unfolding in the central Mediterranean. Nissim recalls the race against the clock to find 4 missing people fallen overboard before our team arrived on scene, on January 25. After the rescue of 95 survivors from an overcrowded rubber boat in international waters off Libya, teams were alerted by some of the survivors that several people had fallen overboard before our arrival, and that some couldn't be recovered on the rubber boat. That day, at least 4 more people perished in the central Mediterranean.