The storm in February is unforgivable and violently shakes humanitarian rescue ships as they try to revive a faulty engine and rescue African migrants drifting in the Mediterranean after fleeing Libya on unsafe boats.
Not only must the brave 70 km / h winds and 4 meter (13 foot) waves, but also win the race against the Libyan Coast Guard, which has been trained and equipped by Europe to keep migrants away from its shores.
In recent days, Libyans had already countered eight rescue attempts by the Open Arms, a Spanish NGO that harassed and threatened the crew in the international waters of the central Mediterranean, where 160 people have died so far this year.
The latest tragedy took place on February 20, when an inflatable boat with 120 people began to take in water and waited for hours until a commercial ship in the area arrived to help. Forty people drowned, including three children and four women, says the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Those rescued at sea are not necessarily safe. According to the IOM, almost 3,600 people, including dozens of women and children, were captured and forcibly returned to Libya from 1 January to 22 February.
There, they are placed in detention centers and subjected to abuse, torture, extortion and rape.
About 2,530 people have come to Europe after leaving Libya so far this year.
Among them is 3-month-old Moise, whose chubby cheeks barely stood out under the oversized life jacket that the lifeguard tied to him when they transferred the child and his Cameroonian mother to safety aboard the rescue ship Open Arms.
A day later, rescuers picked 5-year-old Timi from an inflatable boat under the frightening gaze of the Libyan Coast Guard a few meters away. Together with her mother, she had embarked on the risky journey to Europe through the Libyan desert six months ago to escape female genital mutilation in their native Ivory Coast, where the practice affects 55% of young girls, according to UNICEF.
Despite nausea and vomiting caused by the harsh seas, the prospect of a more secure future in Europe, along with warm blankets, helped Timi fall asleep on the crowded deck of the Open Arms ship.
It would take another three days of stormy navigation for the 146 people rescued by the group on its 80th mission in the central Mediterranean to reach a safe haven in Sicily.
But before they can even begin the challenging process of starting a new life on European soil, they must board another ship and undergo a 14-day quarantine, a precautionary measure put in place by the Italian Government to limit the spread of COVID. 19 during pandemic. Until then, they can still only dream of a better life.
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