At 5:30 a.m., the distress call goes out. A wooden boat overcrowded with displaced people is drifting 130 kilometers (80 miles) off the coast of Libya. When the Ocean Viking, a rescue ship operated by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), receives the call, it is 22 nautical miles (41 kilometers) from the boat. It will take an hour or two to reach it. Nicholas Romaniuk, the search and rescue coordinator aboard the Ocean Viking, changes the vessel's course to intercept the boat.

The distress call was sent through AlarmPhone, a network of civil society actors in Europe and North Africa. People who find themselves in distress at sea can call the NGO, which then forwards the emergency message to other civil society groups such as SOS Mediterranee and MSF and the relevant national coast guard agencies.

The Ocean Viking dispatches lifeboats to ferry passengers from vessels in distress

As the Ocean Viking approaches the area the boat is believed to be in, Romaniuk contacts the European Union Naval Force Mediterranean (EUNAVFOR MED) Operation Sophia. The international military operation is tasked with combating people smuggling. Romaniuk receives the refugee boat's exact coordinates, along with an estimate that it is carrying 90 people.

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Romaniuk spots the boat through his binoculars. He gets his crew to ready the orange lifeboats. Two of the boats head toward the distressed vessel at high speed, followed by the Ocean Viking.

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Dangerous rescue operation

The people aboard the distressed vessel have their hands in the air and wave to get the rescuers' attention. Their boat begins to sway. The rescuers now need to do their utmost to keep the passengers calm.

The Ocean Viking's crew receives calls from AlarmPhone and other organizations

Tanguy, who coordinates the lifeboat rescue mission, attempts to calm them down. He assures them that everyone will be rescued and that the Ocean Viking, which is large enough to take everyone in, will not return them to Libya, from where they set off yesterday. Then, the emergency responders hand out life jackets to the passengers to ensure that nobody will drown should the boat capsize.

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The teams then shuttle the rescued people to the Ocean Viking. There are 84 of them. All of the passengers are male, and most are from Bangladesh and Morocco. Most of them are adults; there are 21 unaccompanied teenagers among the men who have risked their lives trying to reach Europe. Once aboard the Ocean Viking, everyone receives a bag with fresh clothing, a blanket, food and drinking water.

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A second call

Over the course of the day, the sky gets cloudy, the wind picks up, and the sea gets choppier. In the afternoon, a second distress call is relayed via AlarmPhone. Romaniuk learns that a dinghy is in distress, and the Ocean Viking speeds to its rescue.

An hour later, the rescuers reach the vessel. The passengers wave to get their attention — once again increasing the danger that the tiny overcrowded boat could capsize.

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This time, Tanguy has a much harder time convincing the passengers to remain calm, with some desperately trying to get into the lifeboat. Ultimately, however, all 98 are rescued. They hail from Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Guinea, Gambia, Mali, Togo and Guinea-Bissau. There is one woman, and 14 of the passengers are younger than 18.

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