Operation St. Elmo's Fire

On almost a daily basis, refugees die in the Mediterranean Sea trying to cross the outer borders of the EU. St. Elmo's fire, a rare light phenonomon give people in sea distress hope and solace.

Today, commercial shipping mariners on the Mediterranean Sea save many more refugees from the greatest trouble than all the operations executed by the European Union together. Since 2014, commercial ships have saved around 60,000 people from distress on the Mediterranean Sea. Since the end of the Italian operation "Mare Nostrum", there are more and more. For simple sailors, saving people in distress at sea goes without saying, being a moral obligation where looking away is not an option. For sailors, there is no evaluation of the situation at hand, no strategy, not tactics. Just rescuing and selflessly helping others.

Europe's military blockade against immigration is contrary to all this. With the backing of the governments responsible, new tactics and strategies are continuously being devised with the purpose of discouraging migrants once and for all. This deterrence works on account of the death of thousands of people that are not rescued.

For around 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Europe's borders are tightly sealed again. Barbed wire, surveillance drones, sensors and electric fences force people to take the only way that seems to be open: the sea. Tens of thousands drown, dehydrate and capsize at Europe's outer borders. Currently, they are the deadliest borders in the world. Europe has declared war on migrants – a war only civilians fall victim to, particularly on the Mediterranean Sea.

St. Elmo's fire is a rare light phenomenon seen at ships' masts when the sea gets rough and during certain storm conditions. Since the Greek myth of the Argonauts, it has been seen by mariners as an appearance of the patron saint (among other interpretations). St. Elmo's Fire can give mariners hope in times of the greatest need.