Precis

Oscar Camps' company runs the lifeguard services on the busy beaches of Barcelona, Spain.

Now there's another group of people at sea who need help, and he sees it as his duty to offer it.

"Nothing is more important than to protect life at sea," says Oscar. "Protecting life is not a crime, it is a duty".

In summer when the Mediterranean is calm, the sea becomes Europe's deadliest migrant crossing as people flee Africa for a better life.

For the crew of Barcelona-based rescue group Open Arms, it's time to set sail.

Director and founder, Oscar Camps, and his crew of trained lifeguards, know that the consequences for those fleeing can be fatal: "Thousands of deaths every year, between two and three thousand each year, repeatedly and continuously."

But Italy wants to stop boat migration and in April it impounded Open Arms's rescue ship. In defiance, the crew is taking out a yacht called The Astral.

Reporter Eric Campbell joins the crew on The Astral on a dramatic and dangerous journey of search and rescue on the Mediterranean.

They meet boatloads of people from different countries and with different stories but all have one purpose: destination Europe.

One of the first scenes they come across is a tiny boat with more than 50 men, women and children. Helpless and floating in the dark, one migrant who came from as far as Zimbabwe says, "We are suffering. We are suffering too much in our home country." They are all desperate to find a better life.

They come across a sinking boatload of young Tunisians, including minors, fleeing after a coup in their country.

They encounter a people smuggler lying about a dying baby to trick them into mounting a rescue.

And they come up against Italy and the EU's increasingly hard-line policy on asylum seekers, even paying Libyans to turn boats back at gunpoint.

Disembarking in Sicily, Campbell talks to migrants who've already made the perilous journey but now regret it as life in Europe is so tough for them.

They have a warning for migrants: don't come! But the boats keep coming.

For those aboard The Astral, their only concern is saving lives. After two weeks, the yacht conducts 15 rescue mission and helps 400 migrants.

"No matter what their motivations are, why they left, why they flee, persecution, misery, war, it doesn't matter, they don't have to die abandoned at sea," says Oscar.

Calm Mediterranean

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Its high summer in the Mediterranean, and when the sea is calm, it becomes Europe's deadliest crossing.

00:10

African migrant boats at sea

ALBERT: Sit down, sit down everyone.

00:19

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter:  Tens of thousands fleeing Africa for a better life.

00:23

YOUNG TUNISIAN MAN: You find God. You find solution, or you die.

00:29

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Italy wants to stop the boats, even if it costs lives.

SAVVAS: I am in the sea

00:32

Savvas on radio to coastguard

trying to keep the people alive and you tell me to call Malta!

00:38

Astral crew

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: We join a rescue group saving boats in defiance of Italy.

So they see you as the enemy?

GERARD:  Absolutely, yes.

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: And we follow migrants on their perilous path to Europe.

00:41

Drone shot. Migrant boat at sea Title: The Cruel Sea

Music

00:54

Drone shots over city, beach. Super:
Barcelona, Spain

01:00

Eric boards Open Arms boat

01:17

Crew prepare boat. Super:
Eric Campbell
Reporter

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: We're about to set sail on a high stakes mission. Open Arms rescues migrants and refugees in distress. Its founder and director Oscar Camps says its one aim is to save lives.

01:20

OSCAR: No matter what their motivations, why they left, whether it was persecution, misery or war,

01:46

Oscar interview

it doesn't matter. They don't have to die abandoned at sea.

01:55

Oscar and crew prepare

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: He was once a lifeguard patrolling the calm beaches of Barcelona. Now his passion is using lifesaving skills on the open sea. He says Open Arms has rescued 62,000 people in the past six years. These days he's also fighting European governments trying to turn back the boats.

02:00

OSCAR: From March 2018, Italy stopped coordinating humanitarian rescues and started to persecute and block them.

02:27

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: What are the consequences?

OSCAR: Thousands of deaths every year, between two and three thousand every year.

02:36

Astral sets sail

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter:  Open Arms would normally take out a big rescue ship, capable of saving hundreds of people and taking them to the nearest port. But in April, Italy impounded the Open Arms ship to stop them helping migrants. In defiance, they're taking out this yacht.

02:46

Eric on board Astral

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03:06

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Called the Astral, it's too small to rescue large numbers of people. The plan is to find boats in trouble and keep the passengers safe until emergency authorities arrive.

03:13

GERARD: We give them water, we give them food, we evaluate any medical cases.

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: The head of mission is Gerard Canals.

03:2/

Gerard briefs rescue crew

GERARD: What's our total capacity in the life rafts?... 120 people in the rafts. The issue with the rafts is they can't sail. So we'll need the coastguard to come.

03:35

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Once they worked closely with coastguards.

03:47

Frontex advertisement

FRONTEX AD: Together we protect these borders and make Europe a safer home for all of us.

03:51

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: But Europe's border agency Frontex has embraced Australia's hard line against so-called boat people.

03:59

African migrants on Open Arms rescue boat

This year, as crossings increased, Italy not only impounded the Open Arms rescue ship, it seized the vessels of four other non-government rescue groups, or NGOs, claiming they weren't fit to operate.

04:08

Gerard interview on boat

GERARD: They punish those who are helping people at sea.

04:30

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: So they see you as the enemy?

04:33

GERARD:  Absolutely. They don't even share information about the targets. Rather they prefer the boats to be lost at sea than tell us. It is the first rule of the sea, you have to help those in danger.

04:35

Irene and Albert take photos of sunset

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04:48

Albert and Irene on boat

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Gerard Canals will lead rescues with two lifeguards, Albert Roma and Irene Romero. When they hear of migrants in distress, they'll use small speed boats to reach them.

04:54

Savvas on radio

The captain, Savvas Kourepinis will try to persuade the coastguards to come to their aid. It's going to take us three days to reach the search and rescue zone.

05:10

Eric to camera on boat

And for now, as far as NGO rescue missions go, this boat is basically it for the entire Central Mediterranean. The crew of eight will sail us around an area of more than a quarter of a million square kilometres to try to find and help people before they drown.

05:28

Astral at sea, dusk

With almost no wind, the boat motors slowly toward the Strait of Sicily.

05:56

GFX Map. Search and Rescue zones of Central Mediterranean

The Central Mediterranean is divided into nominal search and rescue zones, though Open Arms claims every country is failing its legal obligations. Our destination is the Italian island of Lampedusa, 90 nautical miles from Malta. It's the closest European landfall to Libya, so it's where many of the migrant boats are heading.

06:03

Astral at sea. Night/Calm sea

06:30

The crew monitors the emergency radio channel around the clock. Boats use it to call for help. The sea is eerily calm as we approach Lampedusa. It means the boats are coming.

06:35

RADIO: Good evening, good evening. Calling Lampedusa! Lampedusa! Lampedusa! I need help please!

07:00

Crew react to distress call

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Soon the Astral picks up a distress call from a fisherman, and the first night of rescues begins.

07:07

Gerard interview

GERARD: A fisherman seems to have found a refugee boat. He says they were children among the people that they found. We change our course and now we are heading towards this position.

07:19

Heading towards boats in darkness

It is difficult to find the boats and the situation is more stressful because you don't see anything.

07:28

Preparing speed boat

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: In the inky darkness the crew prepares to take out a speed boat. Irene, your first rescue. How do you feel?

IRENE: I'll tell you later.

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Good luck.

IRENE: Thank you.

ALBERT: Let's go guys.

07:46

Savvas on radio

SAVVAS: Lampedusa Radio, this is Astral.

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: While the lifeguards search for the boat the captain, Savvas, tries to persuade the Italians or the Maltese to mount a rescue.

SAVVAS: I don't understand you, sir. Can you repeat please?

ITALIAN COASTGUARD: You are in the SAR area of Malta.  Do you call Emergency Malta to request the assistance, over?

SAVVAS: Look, I received a distress and I come to help.

08:04

ITALIAN COASTGUARD: Yes, okay sir. I give you the number of Emergency Malta.

SAVVAS  I have it. I have it. I call but nobody answer.

08:34

Albert and Irene arrive at migrant boat

08:43

ALBERT: Okay, okay, not good.

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: The rescue team finds a small wooden boat packed solid with more than 50 people.

08:48

ALBERT: Stop standing. We need to go to you, so stop standing, please. How many children? How many children? Sit down, please.

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: They've come from the Libyan port of Zuwara and have no lights or provisions and they're running low on fuel.

08:57

Albert hands out life jackets

ALBERT: One by one. There's a lifejacket for everyone, so don't worry.

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: But the Italians won't come and the Maltese won't even answer.

ITALIAN COASTGUARD: Try this number, zero zero three five.

09:24

Savvas on radio

SAVVAS :I'm in the sea, trying to keep the people alive and you say me to call Malta? I have children on board. What do I have to do?

09:51

Albert with migrant boat

ALBERT: Don't stand up. Sit down.

10:00

Savvas on radio

ITALIAN COASTGUARD: The Search and Rescue Area is the competence of Emergency Malta. I'll give you another number. Six two two one.

10:04

SAVVAS: I called you first. Why don't you solve this problem?

10:14

Migrants huddled on boat

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: The migrants have travelled from as far south as Zimbabwe to start the journey from Libya. Were you scared to come across the ocean?

10:20

WOMAN: No, it's fifty-fifty.

ERIC: Fifty-fifty. So you might live, you might die?

WOMAN:  Of course.

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: But you are prepared to risk your life to come here.

WOMAN: Of course, we are suffering.  Libya is a long story.

10:30

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: They've been on the water for 24 hours. And their wait has just begun.

10:46

ITALIAN COASTGUARD: Astral, you have a line from Emergency Malta.

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Italy finally agrees to connect Astral to the Maltese Emergency Service by radio.

MALTA RESCUE: Hello, this is Rescue Coordination Centre Malta. Go ahead.

10:56

Savvas on radio

SAVVAS: Yes I have one fishing boat position 35 degree 14.4 minute north…

MALTA RESCUE: Ah, yes. Can you kindly send an email?

11:12

SAVVAS: I send you one email right now.

GERARD: We are expecting the Maltese authorities to coordinate the rescue but we are very close to Lampedusa just 13 nautical miles away.

11:25

Gerard interview

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Looks like nobody wants them.

GERARD: No. That is what usually happens. They don't really want to take care of these people. On other occasions we've seen how they delay to send boats to rescue these people, and in the end they capsize and we have some casualties.

11:41

Savvas and Gerard on bridge waiting for reply from Malta

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12:01

GERARD: One hour has passed and we don't have any new information. Can you update us?

12:07

LAMPEDUSA RADIO: I don't have news for you. Email to Malta Emergency.

12:11

GERARD: Sir, Maltese authorities are not responding. I don't know what else should we do?

LAMPEDUSA RADIO: You must wait for the response.

GERARD: Yes sir, we have been doing nothing but waiting.

12:18

Migrant boat, dawn

Music

12:37

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Close to dawn, with no response from Malta, Italy blinks.

ITALIAN COASTGUARD: Astral, Astral,

12:41

Savvas runs to answer radio

do you receive?  Italian Coastguard, Italian Coastguard.

12:47

SAVVAS: Italian Coastguard, Italian Coastguard, this is Astral, Astral.

ITALIAN COASTGUARD: One hour and 20 minutes.

SAVVAS: Yes, okay. Rendezvous in one hour and 30 minutes.

ITALIAN COASTGUARD: Okay, perfect. See you.

12:55

Migrant boat, dawn. Italian coastguard arrives

13:18

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: The Italian Coastguard capitulates and transfers the migrants to its rescue vessel. It's obliged by international law to rescue boats in distress, but the Italian government is trying to stop any boats getting this far. It's funding the Libyan Coastguard to intercept boats and force them back.

13:24

Oscar watching coastguard rescue

OSCAR: They're quietly giving creditability through trade and other deals, to militias that they happen to call coastguards.

13:50

Archive. Libyan coastguard shooting at boat

MAN: They're shooting!

WOMAN: Yeah they're shooting.

14:03

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: In July, a rescue NGO filmed a Libyan Coastguard ship firing at migrants who refused to stop.

14:05

WOMAN: So called Libyan Coastguard, what you do is very dangerous. Over.

MAN: Look how close!

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: The Italians have provided Libya with 16 ships.

14:12

Coastguard departs

The EU border agency Frontex even trains their crews.

14:30

Empty migrant boat

Often people chancing this journey aren't just escaping war or poverty. Increasingly, they're trying to escape Libya itself,

14:40

Eric to camera

because tens of thousands who've tried to cross from there have been held in detention camps, often run by the militias. A UN report says they suffer unimaginable horrors: gang rapes, starvation, beatings, torture, even death. Now, the UN is very clear, it's illegal to send these migrants back to Libya, but that is now the official policy of some European countries. Pushing them back to what could be more unimaginable horrors.

14:49

Irene interview

IRENE: What Europe and the European Union is doing to these people, it's disgusting. It's totally awful. It's something that we cannot admit. And I think as long as I can do something for them, I'm going to do it.

15:19

Morning. Crew getting ready again

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: It's been a stressful first night for the rescuers. But any thoughts of resting are soon dispelled.

15:38

Another migrant boat approaches

The boats keep on coming.

MAN IN BOAT: Lampedusa? Lampedusa?

15:46

Eric to camera

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Well this is extraordinary. It's just three hours since the coastguard picked up the last boat. And out of nowhere, this boat has just appeared. The crew has had no sleep.

15:56

Yet another boat appears

Moments later, another boat appears on the horizon.

16:05

Albert and Irene in speedboat to migrant boat

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16:11

ALBERT: Hello. How many people?

MAN: There are 73.

SAVVAS: Lampedusa, this is Astral.

16:20

Albert and Irene hand out lifejackets

ALBERT: Everyone sit down. Everyone sit down. Sit down. Everyone sit down.

16:32

Savvas on radio

SAVVAS: Lampedusa Radio, I read you loud and clear. I have one wooden boat, with more than 70 people on the deck.

LAMPEDUSA RADIO: Okay, we are going there but please stay here, so if we need we can ask for your help.

16:53

Italian coastguard arrives

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: This time the Italians seem happy to give a hand, is that unusual?

17:13

Oscar interview

OSCAR: They have no other option but to work with us. We are encouraging them to follow international maritime law. This must be done and we're demanding they do it. We don't know if they'd be doing this if we weren't there to bear witness.

17:20

Oscar on radio

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Oscar's passion was ignited by the Syrian refugee crisis of 2015, when thousands drowned trying to cross from Turkey to Greece.

17:46

Photos. Syrian refugees trying to get to Greece

He flew to the island of Lesbos with no equipment to see how he could help. As a lifeguard he was shocked to see there was no coordinated rescue, just chaos.

17:59

OSCAR: When you see them and touch them, you see that there are children, women, families, there are husbands, there are stories, there is a future. How could we let them die?

18:17

Drone shots of boats on calm sea

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: The millpond sea is proving a magnet for crossings; ever more boats competing for limited rescue resources. In the blur of constant rescues, one call cuts through.

MOHAMED: Bambino, bambino. Baby, baby is no good. Come here, please. Please help me. Please.

18:33

Eric listens to distress call.

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter:  The distress call is from a man called Mohamed who claims he's a fisherman.

19:01

Gerard on radio

GERARD: Okay, Mohamed, we are very close to your position. Very near you.

19:06

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: He says he's found a boat with nine people, including five children and a very sick baby.

19:13

Cristina prepares medical treatment room

CRISTINA: Put in the blood pressure monitor, there's one for a baby.

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: The crew's volunteer nurse, Cristina Esteban sets up an emergency treatment post in the cabin.

19:24

Rescue team head out and approach boat

The prospect of a dying child shakes them all. Cristina goes out with the crew to administer first aid. They arrive to find a very different scene from the one described.

19:33

CRISTINA: When we arrived, the conditions were fine, the baby was crying, the colour was normal, everything was alright.

20:10

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Not only is the baby in good health, the boat is less crowded, the migrants have more provisions than any we've seen. It appears Mohamed is not a fisherman but a smuggler, offering a fake emergency to guarantee pickup as part of the service.

20:21

Rescue team escort boat to coastguard

The crew escorts the boat to the coastguard. If they're angry at being played, they don't show it.

20:41

Gerard interview

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Does it get frustrating when you get these very dramatic messages that may be just to make sure they get rescued?

20:48

GERARD: No, it is much better. So I prefer to work for nothing instead of doing the opposite.

20:56

Family on to coastguard boat

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter:  Rescues like this fuel criticism that NGO boats act as a pull factor for migrants and traffickers.

21:02

GERARD: Our presence at sea doesn't increase the number of people fleeing. People fleeing don't consider if there is or isn't a humanitarian organisation within the vast area of the Mediterranean.

21:13

Dolphin

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: The figures back him up. So far this year there there's been big rise in migrants crossing even while no NGOs were operating. The difference was

21:29

Boats on calm sea

almost a thousand people drowned, more than twice the previous year.

21:41

Sails unfurling

Music

21:50

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: The wind picks up and for the first time the Astral is in full sail. A storm is brewing down south. Oscar Camps worries what it might mean for small boats at sea.

22:00

Astral under sail

OSCAR: Already there have been over 250 people killed this month.

22:27

Oscar interview

One hundred more than the same month in 2020.

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: These deaths affect you, don't they?

22:33

OSCAR: Of course. We have to do what we are doing, rescue as many people as we can and denounce what's happening.

22:40

Astral anchored in cove

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: We anchor off Lampedusa to wait out the storm.

22:48

Sicily tourism GVs

It's a chance for me to jump ship and see what life is like for migrants who make it to shore. The island is teeming with Italian tourists.

22:56

Migrants being offloaded at marina

But the arrival of migrants is kept out of view of the public.  They'll be transferred to detention camps on the main island of Sicily for processing. Almost all will apply for asylum, seven out of ten will be rejected.

23:16

Drone shots. Palermo

Music

23:44

Palermo street GVs/Eric walks with Abdlay

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: In the capital, Palermo, Abdlay Jatta has lived in limbo for five years. He left the grinding poverty of Gambia to provide for his family, eventually reaching Libya in search of work.

23:52

Abdlay interview

ABDLAY: I saw three of my friends get murdered. That's when I decided to go to a safe place to live, so that's where I got the idea of Italy.

24:10

Abdlay walks on street

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: He crossed the Mediterranean by boat but was denied residency and survives by doing low-paid labour that Italians won't do.

24:29

Abdlay interview

So what would you tell young people now in Gambia? Would you tell them to try and make this trip to Europe?

ABDLAY: No. I would say, just stay in Gambia. Just stay there. Even though there is poverty.

24:43

Batch walking

Music

25:04

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter:  Fellow Gambian Batch Mballow also struggled as an undocumented worker.

BATCH: It's very difficult to live here without documents. You have to get a job before you get documents. And now,

25:09

Batch interview

you don't get job because you don't have documents. This is obviously, it's ridiculous.

25:24

Batch walking

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: But with the help of migrant advocates, Batch has managed to enrol in a public college.

So what are you studying now?

25:31

Batch interview

BATCH: I'm studying nursing. When I finish my studies, I would like to go back to my country because they need people like us.

25:42

Abdlay on rocks looking out to sea

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Both men despair at the number of people still risking their lives for an impossible dream.

25:57

ABDLAY: Poverty makes people take these risks. The best thing would be to stay in your country and trust in Allah to provide until you can go to Europe.

26:05

Batch on rocks looking out to sea

BATCH: When I saw the sea there are things that I think about. The sea turned to be a graveyard because people like me they wanted to come and study, they want to come and learn but they lost their lives.

26:23

Drone shots ocean

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Italy's tough line has failed to stop migrants risking their lives.

26:45

Astral. Night. Lowering speedboat

27:02

ALBERT: We found the little boat.

27:13

Group of young people on boat from Tunisia

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Back on the Astral, the crew comes across group of youths and unaccompanied minors from Tunisia, all hoping they're coming to a better world. Three days earlier, a presidential coup plunged their country into chaos.

27:19

KID: We have three children and they're sick, sir. Sir, the kids are sick.

27:38

Albert hands out life jackets

GERARD: They're very close to taking water.

ALBERT: Sit down! Hey! The boat is moving, it's dangerous. So sit down everyone. A boat is coming.

KID: Do we wait here sir?

27:45

ALBERT: Yeah you wait here.

KID: But sir, the children, the children is not good, they are sick.

ALBERT: Yeah, I know. I will be here.

KID: We stay with you?

ALBERT: Yeah.

27:57

KIDS: Thank you very much. Thank you, sir.

ALBERT: You're welcome, man.

28:10

Boat starts to sink. Astral deploys life rafts

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: In the full moon, the swell is rising. Even after the crew attaches a life buoy, the boat is slowly sinking.

28:16

GERARD:  They're now taking on water, and they've got water and gasoline in the bilge.  We see that the boat was very small, over-crowded and banking water. People was really in danger, so that's why we decide to take this action and put a life raft at sea. Now we have these 17 people onboard this life raft. We are waiting for Lampedusa and Malta to take responsibility on this case.

28:31

Eric to camera on Astral

ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Well, it's 4:00 AM and we've been towing the life raft for about five hours now. As usual, the Italian's have been saying, "Call the Maltese," and the Maltese haven't been answering. Not answering the radio, not taking phone calls, not replying to two emails. This is the Search and Rescue Authority. It's bizarre.

29:08

Oscar and Eric watch from Astral

Just before dawn the Italian coastguard finally arrives. After two weeks at sea, it is time for Open Arms to head home to resupply. On this 83rd mission it's conducted 15 rescue operations, helping 398 migrants. Oscar Camps insists they will keep going out while there are lives to be saved.

29:33

Oscar on Astral

OSCAR: I think that nothing is more important than to protect life at sea. In international waters, saving lives is not a crime. Protecting life is not a crime. It is a duty.

30:01

Credits [see below]

Music

30:18

Out point

30:47