Photo of the Day: Cassava farmer, Northern Ghana, West Africa – Image © Jason Florio
Photo of the Day: The smiles say it all – rescued boat migrants from Eritrea- Image © Jason Florio/MOAS-eu
For regular updates, on the ongoing MOAS_eu rescue mission in the Mediterranean, please follow twitter feeds: @floriophotonyc; @RYP_, and @moas_eu Or our floriotravels Instagram page
MOAS Migrant Boat Rescue No.1 & 2 – off the coast of Libya – Images ©Jason Florio/MOAS
Photographer, Jason Florio, May 4th, 2015, presently on route to Sicily, with hundreds of migrants – including men, women, children, babies – after being involved in two rescue missions just off the coast of Libya, over the weekend:
‘I left Malta just over 24 hours ago on board the Migrant Offshore Aid Station MOAS ship, The Phoenix, and headed into the Mediterranean sea towards Libya – Within that short time the team has already rescued 469 migrants from two vessels – Its an intense experience, and rings close to home as so many of the people the team rescued (on the second boat) were from Gambia. Big Thanks to Robert Young Pelton for getting me on board. www.moas.eu ‘ JF
I can imagine the Gambians, on the second boat (rubber dinghy, in this case, holding 109 people) MOAS rescued, surprise at being greeted in Mandinka, one of their local languages, by a man in a protective, bright white (Hazmat) suit and mask, wielding a big camera (Jason Florio) – “they were happy to hear their own language, one man said” Florio told me. I truly hope it gave them a little comfort in what is clearly a harrowing, and extremely dangerous, journey which will continue way beyond being dropped off on foreign soil.
Once the Phoenix drops the rescued migrants in Sicily tomorrow morning, the crew will head back out towards Libya again, to carry on their rescue mission. Wishing them a safe onwards and, in the words of Robert Young Pelton, today: “Kudos to the crew of #MOAS and #MSF for 19 straight hours of hard work”
For a continuous updates on the progress of MOAS and their ongoing mission, follow @RYP_ and @MOAS-eu, I’ll also be updating regularly on the @floriophotoNYC account and here on the blog.
Currently basing out of West Africa, with Jason Florio
Photographer, Jason Florio, flies into Malta, preparing to join MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station)
MOAS – Migrant Offshore Aid Station, based in Malta: dedicated to preventing loss of life at sea by providing assistance to migrants who find themselves in distress while crossing the Mediterranean Sea in unsafe vessels… Read more about the incredible work that MOAS do here.
Last year, the charity helped to save 3,000 migrants during a 60 day mission. Photographer, Jason Florio, flew into Malta earlier last week, in preparation to join the MOAS team, on their boat, ‘Phoenix’, which departs Malta tomorrow, Saturday 2nd May, on it’s first rescue mission of this year.
I’ll be updating the progress of the Phoenix, as and when I get news from Florio. In light of the last couple of weeks – far too many lives lost so tragically – in the Mediterranean, and the astonishing increase in migrants making the perilous crossing so far this year (‘over 10,100 in the first three months of 2015‘ UNHCR), it will be a journey worth following.
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