Licata – Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) announced today the relaunch of our lifesaving search and rescue activities in the central Mediterranean Sea, almost a year after being forced to terminate operations with our last rescue vessel, the Geo Barents.

Our new rescue vessel Oyvon, which means ‘hope for the island’ in Norwegian, has been refitted and equipped to conduct search and rescue operations in one of the world’s deadliest migration routes. Oyvon was previously operated as an ambulance vessel in Norway.

“As a medical and humanitarian organisation, our commitment to being present at sea and supporting people on the move is unwavering,” says Juan Matias Gil, MSF search and rescue representative. “We have returned to carry out the duty of rescuing those who find themselves in distress at sea, forced to take unseaworthy boats, after having endured deplorable and inhumane conditions, detention, abuse, and extortion, in Libya.”

Restrictive policies made search and rescue almost impossible

MSF was forced to halt rescue activities of the Geo Barents in December 2024, after more than two years of operating under restrictive Italian laws and policies, particularly the Piantedosi Decree and the distant port practice. These restrictive rules made operating the Geo Barents unfeasible; despite its capacity to sail with 700 people onboard, it was routinely directed to distant ports while carrying only around 50 survivors.

“MSF's decision to deploy a smaller, faster, vessel is a strategic response to the restrictive and obstructive laws and practice imposed by the Italian government, which specifically targets humanitarian rescue vessels,” adds Gil.

By returning to the central Mediterranean, MSF also aims to report on and document the experiences of people who flee Libya, and collect their accounts of violent interceptions at sea at the hands of the Libyan Coast Guard and other actors. We will also document people's testimonies of forced return to Libya, which has been recognised as a violation of international maritime, human rights, and refugee law by Italian courts and UN bodies.

In recent months, there has been an increase in violent attacks in international waters by the Libyan Coast Guard and other armed groups against people crossing the Mediterranean, as well as against humanitarian rescue vessels.

The MSF crew onboard Oyvon includes a doctor and a nurse to provide medical care in life-threatening situations and treat people for hypothermia, fuel inhalation, and fuel burns, as well as wounds they might have sustained in the cycle of abuse and detention in Libya.