Destination Europe


  • Photographer
    JASON FLORIO
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Date of Photograph
    2015-16
  • Technical Info
    35mm digitial

For the past two years I was embedded with the first search and rescue NGO, Migrant Offshore Aid Station, who operate rescue ships to save the lives of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean and Aegean. Before MOAS, I was based in Gambia, one of the major source countries for African migrants trying to find a better life in Europe. Rarely a week passed when I heard news of yet another migrant boat sinking in the Mediterranean, and Gambian friends losing relatives in the tragedy. I was initially assigned to document MOAS for three weeks onboard their ship. On this first mission they not only rescued Syrians and Somalis escaping war, Nigerians escaping persecution, but Gambians as well, including Abdoulie, the son of a friend of mine in Gambian. I was soon emotionally invested in the story, and I stayed on to make multiple missions over the next two years

Story

For the past two years (2015-16), I was embedded with the first search and rescue NGO, Migrant Offshore Aid Station, to operate rescue ships specifically to save the lives of migrants and refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean and Aegean seas.
Prior to working with MOAS, I was based in The Gambia, West Africa, from 2013-15. During that time, rarely a day went by without hearing about someone who had left or who had died at sea trying to take “the back way”—as the illegal route to Europe is colloquially called.
I was assigned to document MOAS’s lifesaving missions off the coast of Libya and in the Aegean. Initially, it was just an assignment, but quite soon we were rescuing not only Syrians, Somalis, and Nigerians fleeing conflict, but many Gambians escaping a dictatorship and grinding poverty. My work quickly began to take on an added role when, in the first group of Gambians we rescued, I met 18-year-old Abdoulie, the son of a friend of mine back in The Gambia. These close connections with rescued Gambians continued to happen. Whenever possible, I would call their relatives back in The Gambia from onboard the rescue ship to let them know their loved ones were now safe. My initial embed was for three weeks, but I was soon emotionally invested in the story, and I stayed on to make multiple sea missions over the next two years. I am now focusing my work on the effects of mass migration in source countries including The Gambia and European host countries.

You can create multiple entries, and pay for them at the same time.
Just go to your History, and select multiple entries that you would like to pay for.