In June 2023, when a fishing boat reportedly carrying around 700 migrants capsized in international waters off the coast of Pylos in the Peloponnese, Greece, the scale of the tragedy shocked the world: 104 people were rescued and 82 bodies were recovered, with hundreds more still missing and believed to have perished, many of them women and children who had been trapped in the hull of the boat. As the world watched in horror, the Hellenic Red Cross and the ICRC immediately sent their teams to support the survivors and the Greek authorities so that families could be informed and would be able to contact their loved ones.

Two local branches of the Hellenic Red Cross were sent to the reception site where survivors were transferred after their rescue. The ICRC and the Hellenic Red Cross’s Tracing & Restoring Family Links (RFL) Division were in close contact from the outset. Sebastian Bustos, the ICRC’s protection coordinator in Athens, explained, “Within 24 hours a small RFL team was sent from Athens and offered much-needed RFL services to survivors, including those who had been hospitalized. This allowed them to inform their families, by phone or on social media, that they were alive and well. In parallel, we rapidly shared information with the Family Links Network so that they could properly advise and support any families who contacted them about the shipwreck.”

At the same time, the ICRC immediately contacted the Greek authorities, including their Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) Unit, the Missing Persons Unit, the Hellenic Coast Guard and the medico-legal and forensic services, to offer help in the process of identifying the deceased. “For the first time in Greece, the national DVI protocol was put into action for a migration-related mass fatality incident, as we have been advising in Europe for a long time,” said ICRC forensic specialist Antonietta Lanzarone. “This means that standardized and internationally recognized procedures were followed for the recovery, forensic examination and identification of the deceased, and for the process of making a comprehensive list of those missing and gathering information about them.”

We provided support by clearly explaining the DVI process to survivors in Greece. By coordinating with our delegations in other countries, we helped establish agreements with local authorities on how to collect crucial information on those missing (including family DNA profiles) and forward it to the Greek authorities. In cases where direct agreements were not possible, families were encouraged to visit the closest Red Cross or Red Crescent office in their country, so that we could follow up directly with the DVI unit on their behalf. We also arranged for Syrian families to use the Interpol protocol for the legal transfer of missing persons data, including family DNA profiles (paid for by our delegation), to Athens for forensic identification.

It is inherently difficult to identify deceased migrants with their families being so far away, but cooperation between authorities simplified the process. The Greek authorities immediately set up a hotline to make it easier to communicate with affected families. Other countries, such as Pakistan, created their own hotlines to support their nationals in their search for missing relatives. To date, over half the recovered bodies have been identified, mainly from fingerprints. It is expected that more challenging cases will soon be identified using DNA. The success rate and speed of identification are exceptionally high compared with other migration disasters. The fast response by the authorities and efficient coordination with other countries has made a clear difference.

Thousands of people attempt to cross the Mediterranean every year in their efforts to find safety and make a new life for themselves and their families. In doing so, they are often forced to take highly dangerous routes, risking their lives and becoming separated from their loved ones. Shipwrecks are a regular occurrence. Since 2014, more than 28,000 people have died or gone missing while trying to cross to Europe, and so far in 2023 more than 2,300 people have already been recorded dead or missing in the Mediterranean. These figures, from the International Organization for Migration's Missing Migrants Project, relate to verified incidents only. The true figures are undoubtedly much higher. According to the ICRC’s 2022 report Counting the Dead, the bodies of only 13 per cent of migrants who drown during the crossing are recovered[SC1] .

Greece is not the only destination for migrants crossing the Mediterranean. Since June 2023, the Italian Red Cross has operated a hotspot, or designated crisis centre, in Lampedusa to provide on-site assistance to migrants who manage to arrive safely as well as survivors of shipwrecks. Once they have received essential services and medical care at the hotspot, migrants meet with the RFL teams in the Italian Red Cross to make phone calls, write short notes and send messages home to let their families know they are safe. Messages collected by the Italian Red Cross are forwarded through the Family Links Network to the National Society or the ICRC delegation in the migrant’s home country. RFL teams also collect any information the survivors can give about other migrants they met during the journey. This can provide valuable clues for colleagues in the Family Links Network who may be looking for these people now or in the future.

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is not only active along the coast and land routes but is also present on board the Ocean Viking, a cargo vessel operated by SOS Méditerranée in partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) that conducts search-and-rescue activities for migrants in the central Mediterranean. The Family Links Network, coordinated by the Central Tracing Agency, has launched a project on board the vessel that allows rescued migrants to reassure their families back home that they are safe and well. This remarkable initiative brings together every strand of the Movement, showing how powerful the network of organizations can be.

The IFRC team on the Ocean Viking collects messages known as “Salamats” – from the Arabic for “good health” – from the survivors. The process is simple but can have a huge impact. Survivors provide their relatives’ phone numbers. These are sent to the ICRC, which coordinates and forwards them to local centres in ICRC delegations or National Societies in the relevant countries. The people working there then contact the families. This ensures that relatives are informed in their own language, or one they understand, that their loved ones are on their way to a place of safety. Replies from the families are sent back to the IFRC team on board the Ocean Viking. This communication forms a lifeline of its own, reassuring both survivors and their families.

ICRC delegate in Beirut Zeyad Nayel contacts the families of survivors to relay Salamats. He talks about his work with the project: “The most common response that we receive from families after explaining the Salamats project and just before sending the message is ‘Is he alive?’ And a few moments after hanging up the phone, we often receive a message from the family saying, ‘I am alone now. Tell me the truth, is he alive?’

“I can recall one time, we were having a hard time reaching a relative. After several unanswered phone calls, we sent her a WhatsApp message to say we were from the ICRC and we needed to contact her. We waited until we saw the two check marks had turned blue [indicating that the message had been read] and then we called again. She answered the phone, distressed and crying. She said, ‘I know it’s you and I am intentionally not answering. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t believe he didn’t make it.’ After calming her down, explaining the project and sending the Salamat, she burst into tears of joy, asking us to confirm once again that he was safe: ‘Tell me the truth. Put me on the line with him.’ This project brings so much relief to worried families.”

People lose contact with their families during their migration journey for many reasons: losing their mobile phone or forgetting their social media and email passwords; losing relatives’ contact details; being detained or becoming separated from family members at land and sea borders. Launched in 2013, Trace the Face is an online resource that helps re-establish contact between family members who have become separated or have otherwise lost contact along migration routes. Users post their own photo on the website. People who are looking for a relative can easily search the online photo gallery and when a connection is found, ICRC delegations and National Societies then work together to put the family members back in touch. Since it was created, Trace the Face has grown and helped hundreds of families reconnect. Last month, we made the site more accessible by creating versions in Dari, Pashtu and Somali, and later this year, we will launch Trace the Face globally, making the service available to families of missing migrants around the world.

In the last year, more than 5,000 people have posted their photo on Trace the Face and nearly 300 people have been reconnected with their families. One success story is Marzia, who fled Afghanistan with her family but became separated from her 12-year-old brother, Mustafa, amid the chaos of crossing from Iran into Turkey. After six long years without any news, Marzia and her sisters contacted the ICRC offices in Kabul. Using the website, they found a photo of their brother and discovered that he was alive and well, and living in northern Europe.

People along migration routes continue to go missing and families continue to search for answers, but the Family Links Network continues to support them every step of the way.

In June 2023, when a fishing boat reportedly carrying around 700 migrants capsized in international waters off the coast of Pylos in the Peloponnese, Greece, the scale of the tragedy shocked the world: 104 people were rescued and 82 bodies were recovered, with hundreds more still missing and believed to have perished, many of them women and children who had been trapped in the hull of the boat. As the world watched in horror, the Hellenic Red Cross and the ICRC immediately sent their teams to support the survivors and the Greek authorities so that families could be informed and would be able to contact their loved ones.

Two local branches of the Hellenic Red Cross were sent to the reception site where survivors were transferred after their rescue. The ICRC and the Hellenic Red Cross’s Tracing & Restoring Family Links (RFL) Division were in close contact from the outset. Sebastian Bustos, the ICRC’s protection coordinator in Athens, explained, “Within 24 hours a small RFL team was sent from Athens and offered much-needed RFL services to survivors, including those who had been hospitalized. This allowed them to inform their families, by phone or on social media, that they were alive and well. In parallel, we rapidly shared information with the Family Links Network so that they could properly advise and support any families who contacted them about the shipwreck.”

At the same time, the ICRC immediately contacted the Greek authorities, including their Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) Unit, the Missing Persons Unit, the Hellenic Coast Guard and the medico-legal and forensic services, to offer help in the process of identifying the deceased. “For the first time in Greece, the national DVI protocol was put into action for a migration-related mass fatality incident, as we have been advising in Europe for a long time,” said ICRC forensic specialist Antonietta Lanzarone. “This means that standardized and internationally recognized procedures were followed for the recovery, forensic examination and identification of the deceased, and for the process of making a comprehensive list of those missing and gathering information about them.”

We provided support by clearly explaining the DVI process to survivors in Greece. By coordinating with our delegations in other countries, we helped establish agreements with local authorities on how to collect crucial information on those missing (including family DNA profiles) and forward it to the Greek authorities. In cases where direct agreements were not possible, families were encouraged to visit the closest Red Cross or Red Crescent office in their country, so that we could follow up directly with the DVI unit on their behalf. We also arranged for Syrian families to use the Interpol protocol for the legal transfer of missing persons data, including family DNA profiles (paid for by our delegation), to Athens for forensic identification.

It is inherently difficult to identify deceased migrants with their families being so far away, but cooperation between authorities simplified the process. The Greek authorities immediately set up a hotline to make it easier to communicate with affected families. Other countries, such as Pakistan, created their own hotlines to support their nationals in their search for missing relatives. To date, over half the recovered bodies have been identified, mainly from fingerprints. It is expected that more challenging cases will soon be identified using DNA. The success rate and speed of identification are exceptionally high compared with other migration disasters. The fast response by the authorities and efficient coordination with other countries has made a clear difference.

Thousands of people attempt to cross the Mediterranean every year in their efforts to find safety and make a new life for themselves and their families. In doing so, they are often forced to take highly dangerous routes, risking their lives and becoming separated from their loved ones. Shipwrecks are a regular occurrence. Since 2014, more than 28,000 people have died or gone missing while trying to cross to Europe, and so far in 2023 more than 2,300 people have already been recorded dead or missing in the Mediterranean. These figures, from the International Organization for Migration's Missing Migrants Project, relate to verified incidents only. The true figures are undoubtedly much higher. According to the ICRC’s 2022 report Counting the Dead, the bodies of only 13 per cent of migrants who drown during the crossing are recovered[SC1] .

Greece is not the only destination for migrants crossing the Mediterranean. Since June 2023, the Italian Red Cross has operated a hotspot, or designated crisis centre, in Lampedusa to provide on-site assistance to migrants who manage to arrive safely as well as survivors of shipwrecks. Once they have received essential services and medical care at the hotspot, migrants meet with the RFL teams in the Italian Red Cross to make phone calls, write short notes and send messages home to let their families know they are safe. Messages collected by the Italian Red Cross are forwarded through the Family Links Network to the National Society or the ICRC delegation in the migrant’s home country. RFL teams also collect any information the survivors can give about other migrants they met during the journey. This can provide valuable clues for colleagues in the Family Links Network who may be looking for these people now or in the future.

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is not only active along the coast and land routes but is also present on board the Ocean Viking, a cargo vessel operated by SOS Méditerranée in partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) that conducts search-and-rescue activities for migrants in the central Mediterranean. The Family Links Network, coordinated by the Central Tracing Agency, has launched a project on board the vessel that allows rescued migrants to reassure their families back home that they are safe and well. This remarkable initiative brings together every strand of the Movement, showing how powerful the network of organizations can be.

The IFRC team on the Ocean Viking collects messages known as “Salamats” – from the Arabic for “good health” – from the survivors. The process is simple but can have a huge impact. Survivors provide their relatives’ phone numbers. These are sent to the ICRC, which coordinates and forwards them to local centres in ICRC delegations or National Societies in the relevant countries. The people working there then contact the families. This ensures that relatives are informed in their own language, or one they understand, that their loved ones are on their way to a place of safety. Replies from the families are sent back to the IFRC team on board the Ocean Viking. This communication forms a lifeline of its own, reassuring both survivors and their families.

ICRC delegate in Beirut Zeyad Nayel contacts the families of survivors to relay Salamats. He talks about his work with the project: “The most common response that we receive from families after explaining the Salamats project and just before sending the message is ‘Is he alive?’ And a few moments after hanging up the phone, we often receive a message from the family saying, ‘I am alone now. Tell me the truth, is he alive?’

“I can recall one time, we were having a hard time reaching a relative. After several unanswered phone calls, we sent her a WhatsApp message to say we were from the ICRC and we needed to contact her. We waited until we saw the two check marks had turned blue [indicating that the message had been read] and then we called again. She answered the phone, distressed and crying. She said, ‘I know it’s you and I am intentionally not answering. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t believe he didn’t make it.’ After calming her down, explaining the project and sending the Salamat, she burst into tears of joy, asking us to confirm once again that he was safe: ‘Tell me the truth. Put me on the line with him.’ This project brings so much relief to worried families.”

People lose contact with their families during their migration journey for many reasons: losing their mobile phone or forgetting their social media and email passwords; losing relatives’ contact details; being detained or becoming separated from family members at land and sea borders. Launched in 2013, Trace the Face is an online resource that helps re-establish contact between family members who have become separated or have otherwise lost contact along migration routes. Users post their own photo on the website. People who are looking for a relative can easily search the online photo gallery and when a connection is found, ICRC delegations and National Societies then work together to put the family members back in touch. Since it was created, Trace the Face has grown and helped hundreds of families reconnect. Last month, we made the site more accessible by creating versions in Dari, Pashtu and Somali, and later this year, we will launch Trace the Face globally, making the service available to families of missing migrants around the world.

In the last year, more than 5,000 people have posted their photo on Trace the Face and nearly 300 people have been reconnected with their families. One success story is Marzia, who fled Afghanistan with her family but became separated from her 12-year-old brother, Mustafa, amid the chaos of crossing from Iran into Turkey. After six long years without any news, Marzia and her sisters contacted the ICRC offices in Kabul. Using the website, they found a photo of their brother and discovered that he was alive and well, and living in northern Europe.

People along migration routes continue to go missing and families continue to search for answers, but the Family Links Network continues to support them every step of the way.