Après que l’organisation de sauvetage en mer SOS Méditerranée a découvert onze corps dans les eaux internationales de la Méditerranée le vendredi 14 août, l’avion de reconnaissance Seabird 1 de Sea-Watch et l’organisation de sauvetage RESQSHIP ont retrouvé trois autres corps au cours du week-end. L’équipage du Seabird a repéré les corps sans vie le samedi 15 août.

Après leur découverte, les navires de sauvetage Sea-Watch 5 et Nadir se sont rendus sur les lieux afin d’engager des mesures d’identification. En raison de l’état de décomposition des corps et des possibilités limitées de récupération dont disposent les navires civils, ceux-ci n’ont pas pu être récupérés. Selon les informations dont dispose actuellement Sea-Watch, les autorités européennes n’ont pas non plus entrepris d’opération de récupération jusqu’à présent.

Giulia Messmer, porte-parole de l’organisation Sea-Watch, a déclaré :

« Ce sont les personnes qui se cachent derrière la politique de “réduction des arrivées” : pourchassées de leur vivant, oubliées dans la mort. Derrière chacun de ces corps se trouve une personne qui avait une vie et des proches qui pourraient ne jamais savoir ce qui lui est arrivé. Les responsables politiques européens qui font passer la fermeture des frontières avant les vies humaines portent une responsabilité. »

Depuis le début de l’année, plus de 1 600 personnes sont mortes ou portées disparues en tentant de traverser la Méditerranée. Les corps retrouvés illustrent de manière tragique les conséquences d’une politique qui prive les personnes de voies de fuite sûres tout en restreignant, entravant ou omettant les opérations de sauvetage nécessaires en Méditerranée.

Sea-Watch appelle à la mise en place de voies de migration sûres ainsi qu’à un dispositif de sauvetage en mer organisé et financé par les États afin d’éviter de nouvelles pertes de vies humaines en Méditerranée.

Three more bodies have been found in the Mediterranean Sea, days after the rescue organisation SOS Méditerranée discovered 11 bodies in international waters.

The latest bodies were spotted on Saturday, August 15, by the Sea-Watch reconnaissance aircraft Seabird 1 and the rescue organisation RESQSHIP, according to Sea-Watch.

Following the discovery, the Sea-Watch 5 and Nadir rescue vessels sailed to the location to begin identification procedures. However, the bodies could not be recovered because of their advanced state of decomposition and the limited recovery capabilities of the civilian vessels.

Sea-Watch said, according to its current information, that European authorities had not initiated any recovery operation.

Giulia Messmer, a spokesperson for Sea-Watch, said the deaths represented the human cost of European migration policies that prioritise border control over the protection of lives.

“These are the people behind ‘fewer arrivals’ – hunted alive, forgotten dead,” Messmer said. She added that behind each body was a person with a life and relatives who might never learn what happened to them.

Sea-Watch said more than 1,600 people have died or gone missing while attempting to cross the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year.

The organisation said the discovery of the bodies highlighted what it described as the consequences of policies that deny migrants safe routes while restricting or failing to provide adequate search-and-rescue operations at sea.

Sea-Watch called for the establishment of safe migration routes and a comprehensive, state-organised sea-rescue system to prevent further deaths in the Mediterranean.

Alarm Phone, an organisation that provides independent support to people attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to the European Union, has commended SOS Humanity for rescuing 65 people who were found in distress in the central Mediterranean.

In a post on X, Alarm Phone said the group had alerted the organisation after the 65 people contacted it while in distress at sea. Alarm Phone said it subsequently notified authorities and civilian search-and-rescue organisations, but it was the civil fleet that responded to the emergency.

“Rescued!” Alarm Phone said, thanking SOS Humanity for responding to the distress call and carrying out the rescue operation.

The development follows an earlier report by Voice for African Migrants that the SOS Humanity search-and-rescue vessel Humanity 1 had rescued 65 people, including 10 minors and four women, after they were found in distress following a journey from Libya.

According to SOS Humanity, the rescue was conducted on Wednesday afternoon after the group had reportedly spent three days exposed to the open sea and extreme heat.

The Humanity 1 crew said the distress situation was reported by Alarm Phone, with reconnaissance aircraft Albatross Uno also helping to locate the people in need of assistance.

The survivors were reportedly found exhausted and dehydrated and were taken aboard Humanity 1, where they received emergency medical care.

SOS Humanity criticised European migration policies, accusing European governments of abandoning people in distress while civil search-and-rescue organisations face increasing scrutiny and political criticism.

The organisation said the rescue demonstrated the importance of civilian search-and-rescue operations in the Mediterranean and reaffirmed its commitment to rescuing people in distress, documenting their experiences and providing protection to those in need.

Alarm Phone has repeatedly called for greater protection of people attempting to cross the Mediterranean and for an effective European search-and-rescue system to prevent deaths at sea.