Death at Sea

Since September 2021, I've been documenting the experiences of migrants I met during a month at sea with the sea rescuers of SOS Méditerranée's "Ocean Viking".

In September 2021, I was given the opportunity to spend a month out on the Mediterranean Sea with the sea rescuers of SOS Méditerranée's «Ocean Viking». Over the course of a week in international waters, they saved 129 migrants from distress. One of the rescued, a man from Nigeria, told me on deck: «The journey across the sea is like committing suicide without wanting to die.» In Libya, from where most migrants set off to the sea, many of them experience abductions, modern slavery or sexual exploitation.

One year and three years after being out at sea, I took the chance to revisit some of the rescued migrants in different countries of Europe.

Since 2014, more than 27’000 migrants drowned or disappeared in the Mediterranean. It is known as the deadliest border regions worldwide.