The tremendous resources and global attention dedicated to the tragedy of the Bayesian superyacht hint at a double standard for shipwrecks in the Mediterranean, several NGOs dedicated to assisting asylum seekers have said, citing the barriers they regularly face as they attempt to save lives in the same waters.
The groups that spoke to the Guardian were swift to express their regret and extend their sympathies for the deaths of seven people after the luxury vessel was hit by violent storms off the coast of Italy.
“For us, every death in the Mediterranean is one too many, no matter where they come from or how much money they make,” the German humanitarian organisation Sea-Eye said in a statement to the Guardian.
The response to the Bayesian, however, laid bare a jarring contrast, said the NGO, whose most recent mission rescued 262 people in the Mediterranean. “Sadly, it makes a difference in the media, in our society and in politics, who is drowning. We have noticed that the coverage of the situation in the Mediterranean, of tragedies or of our rescues in recent months has not been nearly as extensive as in the case of the Sicilian shipwreck in recent days,” the organisation said.
The Bayesian sank off Porticello, plunging to a depth of about 50 metres. After it emerged that the British tech magnate Mike Lynch was among those onboard, media around the world stepped up their coverage, tracking every development.
Specialised cave divers were brought in, taking turns to dive in 12-minute shifts and assisted by a remote-controlled underwater vehicle. On Wednesday the British Marine Accident Investigation Branch said it had deployed four of its inspectors to the scene.
While the Bayesian received help within minutes of alerting authorities, days later the distress calls relating to a fast-sinking dinghy carrying 43 people in the central Mediterranean were steadily ignored, said another German NGO, Sea-Watch, on social media. In what was probably an attempt to reduce the weight of the vessel and protect the four children onboard, 12 people had jumped into the waters near the vessel and were struggling to stay afloat.
“For the Italian and European authorities, there are Shipwrecks and then there are shipwrecks, one capitalised and the other lowercase, one immediately rescued and the other abandoned to its fate,” Sea-Watch said.
After authorities left those on the dinghy to languish for more than 24 hours, an NGO rescue ship made it to the site and was able to rescue them “just in time”, it added. “There was no rescue effort by the authorities,” Sea-Watch said. “That’s no coincidence; it’s the EU’s double standard.”
The NGO posted photographs contrasting the shipwrecks on social media. “Yacht Bayesian, with white and wealthy people aboard, rescued within 20 minutes by the authorities,” read the caption on the first photo.
The second showed a rapidly deflating vessel with the caption: “A dinghy carrying 43 people, who are not white and not wealthy, ignored for over 24 hours and rescued by NGOs.”
NGOs whose life-saving efforts have at times left them facing lengthy court battles, escalating intimidation and threats such as being held at gunpoint described the Bayesian response as a glimpse of the kind of reaction that could be put in motion.
“It is not wrong to intervene to save rich individuals aboard yachts or tourists; what is wrong is the inconsistency in applying these rescue strategies to save migrants in need,” said Luca Casarini, one of the founders of the NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans.
Sea-Eye said those who aimed to save the lives of asylum seekers grappled with strikingly different conditions. “We are being criminalised by European governments like Italy and prevented from carrying out rescues, for example, by being assigned to extremely distant ports after rescues or being detained in harbours.”
The NGOs’ stance was seemingly backed by Pope Francis, who on Wednesday strongly decried the treatment of people crossing the Mediterranean to enter Europe, describing it as a “grave sin” to deny aid to vessels.
“There are those who work systematically and with every means to reject migrants,” the pontiff said during his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square. “And this, when done with conscience and responsibility, is a grave sin.”
A recent report calculated that Italy’s regular assignment of distant ports for humanitarian rescue ships had resulted in rescue vessels wasting 374 days at sea last year, a burden that creates additional costs for rescue vessels and actively prevents them from saving more lives.
Sea-Watch stressed it would always support large-scale rescue operations that sought to save lives at sea. “But we’re outraged about the political hypocrisy,” a spokesperson said in a statement, pointing to the more than 30,000 people who have died in the Mediterranean in the past decade. “We see active non-assistance for people fleeing to safety every day. Life-saving efforts must not depend on the colour of someone’s skin or the size of their wallet.”
For Òscar Camps, of the NGO Open Arms, the events in Sicily were reminiscent of the multimillion-dollar rescue efforts for the five men onboard the Titan submersible that had been diving to the wreck of the Titanic.
“The resources that are put towards searching for a luxury ship or a yacht, they’re not at all the same,” he said. “It’s as if we are responding to a lesser category of shipwreck.”
He pointed to the recovery of bodies as an example. “Authorities don’t want to you recover the bodies because it’s a lot of work for them. They have to identify them, take DNA samples, bury them,” he said. The result was that many of those who died in search of a better life ended up being left underwater, he said.
This disparity, along with the administrative and political hurdles that rescue ships often come up against, had left him battling a profound sense of discomfort. “I’m ashamed to belong to this society. And to be part of a European Union that has lost the principles and values that it was founded on,” he said. “This is not the kind of society I want to belong to.”
