Europe’s deadliest border is the Mediterranean Sea

Twenty-eight thousand. This is the number of people who have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean between 2014 and 2024. With so many mortalities, the Central Mediterranean constitutes the most dangerous migration route in the world. Yet this figure does not factor in the “invisible shipwrecks” beyond the radar of NGOs, which leave bodies floating unaccounted for in the Mediterranean. 

In these waters sails the Life Support - the search and rescue ship operated by the Italian NGO Emergency. Painted on the red and white vessel are the words: 'Human rights must be for all humans, every single one. If not, we should call them privileges.' This motto guides the crew as they set out from the coast of Syracuse, Sicily, for another crossing of the Mediterranean in June.

The mission of the Life Support is to save the lives of people departing from North Africa in hopes of reaching Europe. Yet this humanitarian work is increasingly obstructed by the European Union’s tightening migration policies and restrictive regulations.

A Lifeline at Sea

Under international law, the duty of a ship's captain to assist those in distress at sea is unequivocal. Saving lives is not just a moral imperative; it’s a legal one. This is the guiding mission of Life Support and other NGO vessels operating in the Mediterranean. These search-and-rescue ships patrol designated search-and-rescue (SAR) zones, where each bordering nation is responsible for responding to shipwrecks and providing aid to those in danger.

Some countries, like Italy, actively participate in rescue operations through their coastguard. Others, such as Malta, intervene very rarely, and in some cases, like Libya, responses are marked by serious human rights concerns. As a result, NGO vessels often operate primarily within the SAR zones of Malta, Libya and at times Tunisia, where official interventions are limited or problematic.

“What we do is try to fill a gap,” Jonathan Nani La Terra, SAR Team Leader of Life Support, told FairPlanet while working on the ship’s bow. The head of sea rescue operations noted that in 2024, NGOs were responsible for rescuing 18 per cent of all migrants who arrived in Italy - critical work that complements the efforts of the Italian coastguard. Still, he pointed out, rescue alone isn’t always enough. Thousands have perished attempting the Mediterranean crossing, their lives lost in the absence of safe, legal pathways.

INVISIBLE SHIPWRECKS: WHEN DEATH IS UNSEEN

“It’s a difficult moment, but it’s part of search and rescue work,” said Anabel Montes Mier, Life Support’s Head of Mission, to her team. “We are exactly where we are supposed to be.” The Head of Mission began to put on her uniform - a large white suit equipped with gloves, goggles, a helmet and boots. The blue braid is the only thing distinguishing her from the other team members dressing beside her as they prepare to board the Zodiac (raft). 

Once lowered from the ship, the zodiac sets off towards the coordinates provided by Sea Bird, a plane operated by a German NGO monitoring the Mediterranean.

“Sometimes the job is like this. You set off to save people, and instead, you recover bodies,” said Montes Mier. Her words reflect the harrowing mission that faced Life Support on the morning of 27 June, when the crew was alerted to the presence of six bodies floating in the Mediterranean. The same report had previously reached the Libyan coastguard, which had decided not to recover the bodies. Life Support’s crew, therefore, began taking turns on watch from the ship’s deck to try to recover the corpses. 

Of the six reported, only two were found and recovered in an advanced state of decomposition. The ship’s doctor confirmed they had been at sea for at least a week.

“There are many reasons why I believe the corpses have to be recovered,” said Montes Mier. “Recovering dead bodies and bringing them to land makes them exist. If they are left floating, they are not counted.” 

This lack of official recognition creates many complications, especially for those left behind. Many widows, for instance, are unable to obtain a divorce in the absence of a death certificate for their missing husbands.

“If we let them float, it’s like they have never existed, and I don’t think this is fair at any level,” Montes Mier added. But the reason is not only practical. “It is a question of humanity: Not to let anyone be left behind. I wouldn’t want my mother left floating in the sea, so why would I do the same to other people?”

The circumstances that led to the six bodies being found at sea remain unknown. It is still unclear whether a distress call went unanswered, whether the individuals jumped overboard to avoid being returned to Libya by the coastguard, or whether they were victims of an unrecorded shipwreck.

“When we talk about invisible shipwrecks, we talk about the shipwrecks that we don’t know about. And when I say we, I refer to the humanitarian organisations, to the civil fleet of the NGOs working in the area,” said Montes Mier. “Because it is very difficult to believe that in the most surveilled sea in the world, no one knew about it.”

The Central Mediterranean is not only the deadliest migration route in the world - it’s also the one with the highest number of disappearances. According to the Missing Migrants Project, more than 12,000 people have vanished at sea along this corridor since 2014. The death and disappearance of thousands of migrant people every year in the Mediterranean is the silent response to European policies aimed at limiting immigration. 

On the deck of Life Support, cultural mediator Liliana Pais speaks of desperation. She said European anti-immigration policies will not stop the Central Mediterranean route. “People cross the sea because on the other side they have no hope,” said Pais. “Desperation cannot be stopped by EU policies.” She alluded to Europe’s strategy of pushing its borders farther from its shores, a process known as the externalisation of borders, which shifts migration control to the very countries people are fleeing.

EUROPE AND THE EXTERNALISATION OF BORDERS

“When we talk about the externalisation of the borders within the specific context of the Central Mediterranean and migrant policies, we talk about the practice of giving away the problem of migration,” making it no longer a European problem, said Anabel Montes Mier. This externalisation is carried out in different ways, particularly through pacts and agreements between the EU and countries on the other side of the Mediterranean, such as Libya and Tunisia.

While the EU signed a formal agreement with Tunisia in 2023, no such deal exists with Libya, though individual member states, like Italy, have struck individual arrangements with Libyan authorities. 

The externalisation of borders consists, for example, in “the fact of funding the Libyan authorities and training and financing the so-called Libyan coastguards when they are not fulfilling the requirements to be called coastguards,” explained Montes Mier. “So even if it’s Italy making this deal, the European Union is letting them do it by supporting them.”

Italy - and by extension, Europe - continues to strike deals with Libya, despite extensive documentation of human rights abuses and ongoing violence against migrants. It’s no coincidence Libya is not recognised as a safe port.

The ratification of conventions like the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea establishes clear obligations around search and rescue. Chief among them is the duty to ensure that rescued individuals are disembarked in a place of safety as soon as possible. 

The notion of a safe port “is extremely important in Search and Rescue practice,” said Jonathan Nani La Terra. “This notion automatically excludes Libyan ports, because it is obvious they do not protect human rights.”

AUGUSTA: THE END OF THE MISSION

After retrieving the two lifeless bodies, Life Support returned to the port of Augusta in southern Sicily, where the remains were handed over to authorities. The advanced state of decomposition made autopsy and identification nearly impossible, especially without any documents.

While part of the crew handled the paperwork and formalities for disembarking the bodies, the rest of the Emergency team stood at a distance for safety reasons, silently bearing witness as a gesture of respect. No one ever truly gets used to it, but recovering bodies is part of the job. “Now the bodies are where they should be, if we can say it that way, instead of being left floating at sea for days,” said Montes Mier. 

The two unidentified migrants were later given a funeral ceremony, arranged at the request of Giuseppe Mazzotta, priest of the Church of San Giuseppe Innografo. “They are our brothers and sisters,” he said, “who arrived from afar in search of hope. They did not succeed, because the sea prevented them from doing so, but we honour them as human beings.”

As the ship sailed away from Augusta, returning to sea, the chief of mission said, “After all the denouncements that have been made, Europe is still funding and supporting Libya. Even though they are aware of all the inhuman things that are happening in this context, so this is a question for you, Europe: why are you still doing this?”

Image by Veronica Gennari.