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A HUMANITARIAN CRISIS AT SEAIn 2015, three-quarters of all migrant deaths worldwide occurred in the Mediterranean, making it the deadliest border crossing in the world.

Indications are that the number of refugees and migrants departing towards Europe is likely to continue rising.

It was against this backdrop and the conviction that nobody deserves to die at sea that the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) was conceived, designed, and implemented.

Martin XuerebDirector of MOAS

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HOW DID MOAS BEGIN?Christopher and Regina Catrambone are two young entrepreneurs and humanitarians who founded the Malta-based Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) after seeing the lack of response to hundreds of drownings in October 2013 off the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Feeling compelled to act, the Catrambones used their private funds to launch MOAS just four months later. They purchased the 40-metre (130-foot) Canadian fishing boat MY Phoenix and converted it into a search-and-rescue vessel with a trained search-and-rescue crew, a pair of six-metre (20-foot) rigid hull inflatable boats and two remotely piloted Schiebel Camcopter S-100s. In August 2014 MOAS became the first private rescue ship in the central Mediterranean when it began a 60-day operation off the coast of Libya.

By the time the operation ended in late October, the MOAS team had performed 10 rescues and administered aid to more than 3,000 migrants.

A Lifeline To Save LivesWe believe that no one deserves to die at sea – and we are working hard to ensure that no one does.

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A GLOBAL NGO An international NGO with its operational base in Malta, MOAS has significantly contributed to saving lives during one of the worst maritime refugee crises the world has ever seen while also inspiring others to take action. Thanks to overwhelming public support MOAS has expanded its humanitarian efforts worldwide.

Our MissionEveryone has the right to life. That’s why MOAS continues to save lives at the world’s most dangerous border crossing – the sea.

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CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN MOAS began operating in the central Mediterranean in 2014, conducting search and rescue using its vessel -M.Y. Phoenix - two Rigid Hulled Inflatable Boats (RHIBs), two Remote Piloted Aircraft, a specialist search and rescue crew and a post rescue care team. MOAS’ vessel operates in collaboration with the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, a State entity, who coordinates rescues and tasks all vessels in the area. Nearly 12,000 men, women and children have been rescued by MOAS in this region between 2014 and 2015.

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AEGEAN SEA The eastern Mediterranean route has seen the largest increase in the flow of migrants as hope fades in the refugee camps of Turkey and other regions. With thousands of people drowning in this region, MOAS has responded to what has been referred to as a catastrophe of mammoth proportions and on December 2015, MOAS launched a new life-saving mission in coordiation with the Hellenic Coast Guard. MOAS Aegean operates aboard the 51-metre ship Responder, equipped with two high-speed rescue craft named in the memory of Aylan and Galip Kurdi, Syrian children who perished in September 2015 in this region.

Your help gives them hopeEvery life matters. We spend 90% of the donations we receive directly on saving lives.

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SOUTH EAST ASIA MOAS has also expanded into South East Asia as the only private search-and-rescue asset in the region. After the central Mediterranean ‘sailing season’ for migrants ended in the autumn of 2015, MOAS repositioned the MY Phoenix to the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. IOM estimates that the mortality rate on the Andaman route to be 1.2% while MOAS believes, based on in-house research, that the rates could be much higher.

MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) Triq San Trofimu 7,

SLM 1119, Sliema, Malta

Email: info@moas.eu Website: www.moas.eu

MOAS is a charity registered in the USA, Malta (VO 0930) and Germany

Photos courtesy MOAS, Jason Florio, Robert Young Pelton ©2016 - all rights reserved