A day of rescue in the Mediterranean

"On the bridge, the mood is tense. The team, silent. I watch my colleagues: some scan the horizon with their binoculars, others make calls with their flashlights."

Lucille is in charge of communications on board the Ocean Viking. The moment she describes is essential to our mission: it's the binocular watch. To rescue people in distress at sea, our work begins long before we launch our lifeboats.

As soon as our ship arrives in the area of operations, crew members take turns scanning the horizon with binoculars from the deck. It's a crucial mission: a single dot, reflection or flash could be a boat in distress, carrying women, men and children in mortal danger.

This responsibility requires extreme concentration, taking place in one-hour slots per person. With a 15-kilometer field of vision, one comes to hope that the craft isn't blue, at the risk of it melting into the immensity of the sea.

In the dark, the search is even more difficult: "I remember a boat we found in the dark thanks to the flash of one of the survivors' cell phone", says Lucille.

When a boat is spotted, it's imperative not to lose sight of it. You then need to alert the relevant authorities and prepare for rescue. At sea, every moment of watchfulness is a race against time to save lives.

Thank you, dear donors, for your support and your precious donations! 

At 9, Line is a little girl like any other. She laughs, plays, squabbles with her brothers and sisters, and dreams of being a dentist when she grows up. Yet she has already been through unimaginable hardships.

"At sea, the boat was pitching a lot. We almost capsized. Everyone was jostling each other. When you arrived, we all started crying."

A few months ago, she was rescued with her parents and siblings in the middle of the Mediterranean, at the end of a long journey from Lebanon. Line suffers from severe jaw pain and has to undergo treatment that her parents could no longer afford. Her disabled twin sister also required regular and expensive care.

In these conditions, the family took the painful decision to leave Lebanon, taking insane risks in the hope of a better life where their daughters could be properly cared for. Sadly, Line's twin sister did not survive the journey.

This family are among the 40,915 people rescued by SOS MEDITERRANEE since 2016. Their stories are rarely happy ones, and their tales of exile are all punctuated by painful ordeals. On the other hand, their emotion and relief at being rescued, welcomed and cared for are always immense.

With your support, we will continue to be at sea to rescue all those in mortal danger, like Line and her family. Help us continue our vital rescue mission!