Photo exhibition: “Four perspectives on Search and Rescue”
Alessio Cassaro, Camilla Kranzusch, Laurin Schmid, Lukas Kaldenhoff, Maria Giulia Trombini, Max Cavallari, Nicole Thyssen, Pietro Bertora, Raphael Schumacher and Wasil Schauseil, have been part of the crew aboard Humanity 1 on recent operations in the central Mediterranean Sea. Their photos were taken between December 2022 and July 2024 and portray different angles and perspectives of a search and rescue mission.
A first glimpse – The Embarkation Area
This is the place where a rescue starts and ends – and it can get very hectic! When a boat in distress is spotted, crew members get ready for rescue in the embarkation area.
They receive final information and instructions from the Search and Rescue coordinator, before casting off with the fast rescue boats (RHIBs), named Bravo and Tango, towards the distress case.
The RHIB crew then approaches the boat in distress, establishes contact with people, and hands out life jackets, before taking survivors on board. Tango has a rescue capacity of 12 people, while Bravo can carry more than 20 people.
When the RHIB crews return, they do so with people who have just fled violence, torture, and inhumane conditions in Libya and Tunisia, from where most of the boats depart.
These people then embark onto Humanity 1 – often in an exhausted state, sometimes sick and dehydrated, but all of them with hope, dreams, and the desire for a life in dignity.
All in one – The Aftdeck
The first hours on deck after a rescue are usually quiet. When survivors come on board, they are first registered and then are provided with dry clothes, a blanket, and sanitary products.
On board the vessel, resources are limited, and every single activity is determined by the weather. Despite the conditions, the crew does their best to take good care of the survivors.
For women and children – the most vulnerable group among those rescued – there is a shelter area accessible from the aft deck only for them.
Starting on the day after a rescue, the crew tries to establish a daily routine on board.
The days on board always start with breakfast at 9am and a morning meeting afterwards, in which updates are shared and points which are important for the survivors can be raised.
Two hot meals are provided at lunch and for dinner, served on the main deck. On board Humanity 1, survivors and crew eat the same food in the same place.
In the afternoon, free time activities are well attended. The aftdeck can be transformed into a barber shop, a sports area or a classroom for Italian lessons at the same time – and as the mission continues, it becomes a place of diverse human encounters.
Safe, for now – The Shelter
Warmed by heat lamps and surrounded by weather tarps, the shelter area on the boat deck is one of the main resting places for survivors on board Humanity 1. Right here, many feel safe for the first time in a while.
This shelter provides a degree of safety often not present in their home countries, where they flee war, poverty, or persecution. Safer than Libya or Tunisia – transit countries, where they have spent the last weeks, months, or years, being exposed to torture, (sexual) violence, and racial discrimination.
Safer than the unseaworthy boats in which they tried to escape the horror of their past, spending often several days on the open sea.
Yet despite all that, even right here in this shelter, these people are still in an emergency situation until they can disembark in a safe place on shore.
On board, only basic needs can be fulfilled, and medical and psychological first aid provided. After the first rest, a moment of realization can set in with many of the survivors. Joy can give way to exhaustion and a sense of being caught between their perilous journey behind and the uncertainty in Europa ahead.
Also, in the shelter, people are sleeping on the floor, exposed to wind and weather. Depending on the total number of rescued people, it can get very crowded on deck, which raises the risk of potential conflicts among the different groups of survivors. But, for the moment, they are safe.
Well spotted – The Lookout Station
When it first appears, the dark dot on the horizon could be anything. Coming closer, you begin to see the outlines of a longish object in the water. Rubber boats mostly lie flat on the waterline, appear rigid and can quickly break apart in stormy conditions.
Wooden boats move a lot in the waves, and they can easily capsize, especially when they are overcrowded and have a high centre of gravity. Metal boats lie flat in the water, and even the smallest waves can cause them to fill up with water and sink within minutes, killing dozens of people.
When you spot heads sticking up above the edge of the boat, you know that you have to act fast.
Out of the more than 50 boats that were rescued by Humanity 1 so far, several dozen were spotted by crew members with only binoculars or a search camera on board, with no distress alert received before.
The remaining distress cases were reported via radio or via email, often by civil society organisations such as Sea Watch or Pilotes Volontaires, operating surveillance aircrafts. As a vessel in the vicinity of a boat in distress, by law, it is the duty of the captain to proceed towards the reported position and render assistance.
Unfortunately, Humanity 1 cannot always be the first on scene. In an incident in December 2022, a vessel of the so-called Libyan Coastguard proceeded towards a rubber boat in distress and violently forced the 50 people on board to embark their patrol boat – all in full view of Humanity 1. The refugees were beaten, robbed, and threatened with machine guns before they were taken back to Libya.
This so-called pull-back is a cruel and illegal action, violating maritime law, which clearly states that people in distress must be rescued and brought to a safe place. Libya, a country ravaged by war and grave human rights abuses, with innocent people on the move held in detention camps, cannot be considered safe.
More photos of the exhibition:
