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From Our Own Correspondent: Life aboard a migrant rescue ship on the Mediterranean

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11/03/2023 GMT

Life aboard a migrant rescue ship on the Mediterranean

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Life aboard a migrant rescue ship on the Mediterranean

A treacherous voyage from Libya to Italy; stories from Turkey, the Seychelles and Sweden.

A treacherous sea voyage for migrants travelling to Europe; Turkey's boltholes for Russians; saving the Seychelles’ famous coco de mer tree; the roadless wild of northern Sweden.

Pascale Harter introduces dispatches from reporters on a migrant boat crossing the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to Italy, and in Turkey, the Seychelles and Sweden.

After several well-publicised disasters at sea, where migrant boats sank with the loss of many lives, Italy’s government brought in new measures to try and stop these dangerous journeys. Laws now set limits on how much NGOs and others can do to save migrants in distress in the Mediterranean. But do Giorgia Meloni and her cabinet really understand what motivates people to pay people-smugglers to get them into the EU? Frey Lindsay spent time aboard one vessel hearing why so many were willing to run the lethal risks of the journey, and pay the heavy price to get there. 

Elsewhere on the Mediterranean Sea, the Turkish tourist resort of Antalya is emerging as a destination for another cohort of migrants - Russians. Some are fleeing President Putin's military draft, others are actively resisting the war in Ukraine, while many are just trying to keep their businesses going, says Emily Withers. 

The coco de mer palm yields the largest nut of any plant in the world – a mature one can weigh up to 35 kg – and it’s also one of the rarest trees on Earth. It’s only found on two islands in the Seychelles archipelago, in the Indian Ocean, and faces an array of threats, from climate change to poaching. How do you protect an endangered species that’s literally rooted to the spot? Rhodri Davies recent visited some of the most closely-guarded plants around.

And in the far north of Sweden, Matilda Welin goes well off the beaten track, into remote forests near the Norwegian border. Around here, you can go a very long way without meeting anyone, for this is the vaglost land - quite literally 'roadless land' - where there’s very little sign of human life. That can be unnerving – but something everyone should experience, says Matilda. 

Producer: Polly Hope
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith



(Photo by Camille Martin Juan via Sos Mediterranee/Reuters)

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