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Lexie Harrison-Cripps
MSF search and rescue boat patrols the water between Libya and Europe to rescue people who are so desperate that they will try to make the journey in unseaworthy and overcrowded vessels. These rescues all took place in April and May of 2022 and have been published in various stories by Al Jazeera and Palabra.

A dinghy packed full of people who left Libya in an attempt to reach safety, wait to be rescued by the MSF team.

Without enough space for everyone in the boat, men straddle the sponsons, each with a foot dangling in the water.

A woman pleads with the MSF team to be the next person to be pulled to the safety of the MSF boat.

Over 100 people wearing life jackets issued by the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Search and Rescue team wait to be transferred to the safety of the Geo Barents, seen in the background.

The MSF search and rescue team take people one by one from their vessel onto the rescue boats.

One of the cultural mediators holds a child whilst also helping other survivors off her rescue boat.

Having dropped off a load of survivors to the safety of the Geo Barents rescue ship, the team return to the rescue scene to collect more survivors.

After everyone has been transferred to the safety of the MSF vessels, the MSF team destroy the smuggler's vessel so that they cannot be reused.

Maltese Search and Rescue Region in the Mediterranean Sea, 12 May 2022, the spotlight of the Geo Barents reflects on a small fibreglass boat carrying 29 people who the MSF team later rescued and transferred to safety.

Maltese Search and Rescue Region in the Mediterranean Sea, 12 May 2022, Leo Southall, Deputy Search and Rescue Team Leader stands at the bow of his rescue boat after distributing life jackets to 29 passengers on a fibreglass fishing boat. The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) team then transferred the passengers to the ship, which transported them to Italy.

Maltese Search and Rescue Region in the Mediterranean Sea, 12 May 2022, Aron Asmerom, 8, waits in a small fibreglass boat to the instructions given by Deputy Search and Rescue Team Leader, Leo Southall (bottom right) who is crouching down on his rescue boat.

A survivor from a critical night rescue steps from the rescue boat to the deck of the Geo Barents where the MSF team take his life jacket and then register him. He is pulled up the ladder by the two deck crew, on either side of him, led by Miriam Willis (in the orange jacket) and Virgina Mielgo (left).

A survivor from a critical night rescue steps from the rescue boat to the deck of the Geo Barents where the MSF crew wait to greet them, remove their life jackets, register them, give them a set of dry clothes and other essentials such as a blanket, a drink and a hygiene pack.

A male survivor waits on the decks of the Geo Barents wrapped in a blanket.

A man with a broken leg is brought onboard the Geo Barents having been rescued from a dinghy at sea.

There is little to do but wait, colour and talk on the decks of the Geo Barents between the rescue and the disembarkation.

Mediterranean Sea, 11 May 2022, Sylla Mohamed Qamine, 15, from Côte d’Ivoire entertains other survivors on the deck with his drumming skills as others dance around him.

Sunrise on the decks of the Geo Barents.

As the decks fill with survivors, there is very little personal space as people sleep next to each other.

Each morning, survivors are lined up on the decks to check that everyone has their own blanket and to distribute food for the day.

A young boy who was rescued at night sets foot on European soil for the first time.

Survivors are transferred into the custody of the Italian police where they will be processed.

As he sets foot on European soil, one of the survivors waves at the MSF team to thank them for bringing him to safety.

Augusta, Sicily, 19 May 2022, groups of survivors who have said they are under 18 years old, are transferred from the Geo Barents into a fenced off area where they are processed by the Italian authorities.

One of the translators onboard the Geo Barents waves to the survivors who have been delivered to a port of safety in Italy.
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