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Jason Florio's best photograph – African migrants crammed into a boat off Libya Jason Florio's best photograph: African migrants crammed into a boat off Libya
(7 days later)
This is a migrant boat in the middle of the Mediterranean off Libya with 561 people on board. At first you see a mass of people, then as you come closer you can pick out different nationalities, women and children, all just bobbing around in such a vulnerable situation. They were mainly Eritreans and Ethiopians. And you know each one of them has horrific stories of being raped or robbed on the journey. Having worked in Africa for many years, I know the land they are coming from.This is a migrant boat in the middle of the Mediterranean off Libya with 561 people on board. At first you see a mass of people, then as you come closer you can pick out different nationalities, women and children, all just bobbing around in such a vulnerable situation. They were mainly Eritreans and Ethiopians. And you know each one of them has horrific stories of being raped or robbed on the journey. Having worked in Africa for many years, I know the land they are coming from.
I’d been embedded with the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (Moas) for two weeks, going out in a rigid-hull inflatable boat with the rescue crew to document the migrants as they are transferred to the Moas vessel Phoenix. We’d rescued 1,400 people by that point and I was concerned I was starting to get the same shots. Then Christopher [Catrambone, the founder of Moas], said: “I’m going to put you on the boat with the migrants.”I’d been embedded with the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (Moas) for two weeks, going out in a rigid-hull inflatable boat with the rescue crew to document the migrants as they are transferred to the Moas vessel Phoenix. We’d rescued 1,400 people by that point and I was concerned I was starting to get the same shots. Then Christopher [Catrambone, the founder of Moas], said: “I’m going to put you on the boat with the migrants.”
I was wearing a white protective suit and had my cameras; I looked like a spaceman. I shook their hands and tried to make eye contact, then I climbed on to the engine cover. This is maybe a quarter of those on board. It was only when there was a scuffle that I realised there were people under the decks. I looked down into a black hole, and you could just see people sat on each other’s laps. They were calling: “Please get us out, it’s so hot, we’re suffocating.” It was like the old pictures you see of slave ships. They’d been like that for 14 hours.I was wearing a white protective suit and had my cameras; I looked like a spaceman. I shook their hands and tried to make eye contact, then I climbed on to the engine cover. This is maybe a quarter of those on board. It was only when there was a scuffle that I realised there were people under the decks. I looked down into a black hole, and you could just see people sat on each other’s laps. They were calling: “Please get us out, it’s so hot, we’re suffocating.” It was like the old pictures you see of slave ships. They’d been like that for 14 hours.
I looked down into a black hole … It was like the old pictures you see of slave shipsI looked down into a black hole … It was like the old pictures you see of slave ships
There was no room on deck to allow them to come up straight away because the inflatable can only take up to 13 people at a time. That’s when fights started to break out. I radioed back to the Phoenix to get me off, it was becoming a really unpredictable, dangerous situation. The people underneath were trying to force their way up through the hatches. I was really nervous about what would happen if there was a surge of people and the boat flipped.There was no room on deck to allow them to come up straight away because the inflatable can only take up to 13 people at a time. That’s when fights started to break out. I radioed back to the Phoenix to get me off, it was becoming a really unpredictable, dangerous situation. The people underneath were trying to force their way up through the hatches. I was really nervous about what would happen if there was a surge of people and the boat flipped.
I was told I had to stay and take control of the situation. I was there for another two hours. I didn’t realise I could shout so loud – I’m not the most imposing of human beings. There was one point where I must have looked like a complete freak. Someone had thrown me a leather cowboy hat which I put on over my hooded suit to try to distract them.I was told I had to stay and take control of the situation. I was there for another two hours. I didn’t realise I could shout so loud – I’m not the most imposing of human beings. There was one point where I must have looked like a complete freak. Someone had thrown me a leather cowboy hat which I put on over my hooded suit to try to distract them.
I’ve worked in war zones, in Afghanistan and refugee camps in Somalia, but this assignment is really challenging. It’s shocked me to the core. On the first rescue I was having to hold back the tears. I don’t want the migrants to feel that I am taking advantage of their situation. I’m trying to show the extreme lengths people will go to to escape terrible circumstances. And no matter how fearful people are about migration, if you looked down that hatch and talked to any one of those individuals you would want them to have the chance to change their lives.”I’ve worked in war zones, in Afghanistan and refugee camps in Somalia, but this assignment is really challenging. It’s shocked me to the core. On the first rescue I was having to hold back the tears. I don’t want the migrants to feel that I am taking advantage of their situation. I’m trying to show the extreme lengths people will go to to escape terrible circumstances. And no matter how fearful people are about migration, if you looked down that hatch and talked to any one of those individuals you would want them to have the chance to change their lives.”
CVCV
Born: London, 1965.Born: London, 1965.
Studied: Schlepping bags and loading film for high-profile New York photographers.Studied: Schlepping bags and loading film for high-profile New York photographers.
Influences: Don McCullin, Richard Avedon, Mike Disfarmer, Rumi, Pepé Escobar, Cormac McCarthy, Withnail and I.Influences: Don McCullin, Richard Avedon, Mike Disfarmer, Rumi, Pepé Escobar, Cormac McCarthy, Withnail and I.
High point: Completing the first recorded source to sea navigation of the river Gambia, a 1,350km journey by canoe and motorcycle, documenting life along the river with my wife and expedition partner, Helen.High point: Completing the first recorded source to sea navigation of the river Gambia, a 1,350km journey by canoe and motorcycle, documenting life along the river with my wife and expedition partner, Helen.
Low point: Being with friend and writer, Matt Power, when he died next to me in the Ajai game reserve, Uganda, last year, whilst covering Levison Wood’s Walking the Nile expedition.Low point: Being with friend and writer, Matt Power, when he died next to me in the Ajai game reserve, Uganda, last year, whilst covering Levison Wood’s Walking the Nile expedition.
Top tip: “There’s courage involved if you want to become the truth” – appropriated from Rumi the poet.Top tip: “There’s courage involved if you want to become the truth” – appropriated from Rumi the poet.