Mediterranean Sea, April 2017 – Among the stranded migrants in Libya, there is a story going around that they only need to cross the great river between Africa and Europe in order to reach Italy.
One day, together with hundreds of other people, they are crammed into an inflatable boat and told to steer toward the light glowing on the horizon. Europe is supposed to be there. What these people do not know, however, is that the light is actually the flame of the large offshore drilling platform Bahr Essalam, located 100 kilometers off the Libyan coast in the Mediterranean Sea.
We were shipping along the Libyan coast in a old fishing vessel, operated by the non-governmental organization Sea-Eye, in order to provide life jackets to shipwrecked people. At least that was the plan.
But everything turned out differently than expected. Altogether, we were a crew of nine. Petra was responsible for communication when approaching the refugee boats, Thomas was the captain, Olaf drove the RIB boat, Ed was the doctor, Robert K. was the observer, Kalle and Karl-Heinz were the engineers, and Robert R. and I worked as deckhands and me as a photographer as well. In addition, every crew member was assigned bridge watch duty, cleaning tasks, and cooking in the galley.
