To view this page ensure that Adobe Flash Player version 11.1.0 or greater is installed.

A rescue swimmer gives the thumbs up to the winch operator during a training exercise off the coast of Catania, Sicily, the home of Guardia Costiera’s 2° Nucleo Aereo. Saving Lives in the Mediterranean Based in Catania, Sicily, the Italian Coast Guard’s 2° Nucleo Aereo is playing a critical role in the central Mediterranean migrant crisis. Story by Elan Head | Photos by Lloyd Horgan There are three principal routes taken by refugees and migrants who cross the Mediterranean Sea in an attempt to reach Europe. There is the Eastern Mediterranean Route from Turkey to Greece — a route that has been taken by many asylum seekers fleeing violence and instability in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. There is also a Western Route between Morocco or Algeria and Spain, which has been used by Syrian as well as African refugees, although generally in much smaller numbers. Then there is the Central Mediterranean Route, which leads to Italy. Migrants and refugees who take this route might depart from Algeria, Tunisia, or Egypt, but in recent years the vast majority have departed from Libya. In 2012, at the onset of Libya’s political crisis, there were just over 15,000 documented arrivals in Italy via the Central Mediterranean Route. Last year, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency, there were more than 180,000. Another 4,500 people are known to have died while attempting to cross the cen- tral Mediterranean — a fatality rate of about one in 40. Most of the refugees and migrants who take the Central Mediterranean Route are from African countries including Nigeria, Eritrea, Guinea, and Côte d’Ivoire. Many begin their journeys as 60 Ver tical 911 M aga zine