MSF nurse explains the necessity of the relaunch of our search and rescue activities

"Médecins Sans Frontières/ Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and our partner SOS Mediterranée are relaunching our life-saving activities in the Mediterranean. 

Why are we there? Because we have to be.Because like in every other place in the world where we work in places of conflict and catastrophe we are saving lives. And every human life is worth saving." 

Operating in partnership with SOS MEDITERRANEE, the new ship Ocean Viking  sails in the Central Mediterranean Sea.

With almost no humanitarian vessels left in the Central Mediterranean, and the last vestiges of European search and rescue capacity recklessly abandoned, this sea crossing is the world’s most deadly migration route.

Already this year, at least 426 men, women and children have died attempting the crossing, 82 of them in one shipwreck alone just over two weeks ago. Additionally, commercial ships are in an untenable position, stuck between the duty to rescue and the risk to be stranded at sea for weeks due to the closure of Italian ports and the inability of EU States to agree on a disembarkation mechanism.