Young Libyans Chose Danger At Sea Over Peril At Home

For three young Libyans plucked from a deflating dingy in the Mediterranean, the perils of trying to cross the sea were still preferable to what they had left behind in their war-torn home

ON BOARD THE OCEAN VIKING, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Aug, 2019 ) :For three young Libyans plucked from a deflating dingy in the Mediterranean, the perils of trying to cross the sea were still preferable to what they had left behind in their war-torn home.

Salah, Khalil and Ibrahim, aged between 19 and 22, sat in a corner of the Ocean Viking vessel operated by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors without Borders as it waited for permission to dock at a port.

They sat apart from other migrants from Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia, Senegal and the Ivory Coast who have fled torture and abuse in Libya where most of them had gone to seek work.

"I had no idea how dangerous the sea could be," says Khalil, 20.

"But Libya is collapsing -- you cannot live there," he adds, pulling an imaginary trigger.