Twenty-four hours on a Mediterranean rescue ship – from Mayday to rescue | Features

Mediterranean Sea – An overcrowded picket boat carrying 126 refugees and migrants drifts within the central Mediterranean. Within the cramped house under deck, males huddle in rows subsequent to one another, the ceiling so low that it’s unimaginable to take a seat upright.

Because the livid sea kilos the boat, under decks fills continually with water. The salt mixes with leaking engine gas right into a harmful chemical response that not solely burns the pores and skin however dangers suffocating whoever inhales the toxins.

Above, {couples} are sitting collectively, wrapping head scarves and towels round their kids to guard them from the splashing waves, uncovered to the robust wind and treacherous sea.

Because the final rays of the solar disappear past the horizon on their second day with out meals or water, one of many individuals on board manages to make a final determined name earlier than dropping contact with the phone towers.

“We’ll die, assist us,” is all he has time to inform a lady on the opposite finish earlier than the decision cuts off.

All they’ll do now’s sit within the night time because the waves crash, hoping there’s sufficient gas to final till dawn – and that anyone is coming to assist.

On the opposite finish, here’s what was occurring: