AFP 13 | Sameer AL-DOUMY

INTERNATIONAL WATERS, OFF THE COAST OF LIBYA
Crew members of the Ocean Viking rescue ship evacuate a migrant suffering from severe dehydration and seasickness on a soft stretcher from the Sider, a merchant vessel, in the search-and-rescue zone in international waters off the coast of Libya on January 17, 2026. The crew of the Ocean Viking evacuated 44 migrants who had been rescued by the merchant vessel a few days earlier in Libya’s search-and-rescue zone in international waters. They were suffering from severe dehydration, seasickness and a lack of medical care. Some were unable to walk and had to be evacuated on stretchers. They had left Libya a couple of days earlier aboard a fibreglass boat, hoping to reach the Italian coast, before being shipwrecked in rough seas and rescued by the Tanzanian-flagged merchant vessel.