The NGO vessel Ocean Viking, operated by SOS Mediterranee, rescued 35 Bangladeshi migrants from a fiberglass boat adrift between Italy and Malta on Monday, May 20, 2024. The migrants were found suffering from dehydration and hypothermia after being at sea for three days.
As darkness fell, the Ocean Viking’s crew spotted the small boat and moved in to assist. Giannis, one of the crew members, called out to the migrants, reassuring them: “We’re here to help you!” The rescue operation began after the crew received a distress call from the hotline Alarm Phone.
At 4 am, the Ocean Viking crew sprang into action. Using a semi-rigid boat and flashlights, they located the migrants. The scene was dire: the men were barefoot, their clothes soaked, and their eyes red. Trembling, they clung to the rescuers’ arms and life jackets. Within ten minutes, they were safely on board the Ocean Viking.
The rescued men, all Bangladeshi nationals, revealed they had set sail from Benghazi, Libya, aiming for Sicily. They are part of the approximately 10,000 people the Ocean Viking has rescued in the Mediterranean since 2019.
Medical staff on the Ocean Viking immediately attended to three men needing urgent care. One young man was unconscious, wrapped in a survival blanket. Many were suffering from severe dehydration and hypothermia.
At dawn, the migrants were able to shower, change into fresh clothes, and receive food kits containing water, dried fruit, and hot meals. Sara Mancinelli, operations manager with SOS Mediterranee’s partner IFRC, emphasized that the priority was to make the migrants feel safe and ensure they would not be sent back to Libya.
Despite the rescue occurring closer to Malta and Sicily, the Ocean Viking was instructed to head for Ortona, a distant port on Italy’s Adriatic coast, under a policy introduced by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. This policy requires NGO ships to proceed directly to a designated port after a single rescue.
The journey to Ortona would take over two days, adding further strain to the already exhausted migrants. Although many of these Bangladeshi migrants face fast-tracked asylum claims with slim chances of success, they are temporarily safe from the immediate dangers of the sea and the threat of being returned to Libya.