Skip to main content
The Morning Star Shop
‘It will not be easy to reconcile how Europe is allowing this to happen’
HANNAH WALLACE BOWMAN speaks to the Star about her time on board the Ocean Viking, an NGO migrant rescue ship that has saved hundreds of lives despite Fortress Europe's dogged efforts to stop them
Hannah Wallace Bowman, communications manager on board the Ocean Viking (right)

“I CAN’T even begin to describe how overwhelming the situation in Libya and the Mediterranean is,” says Hannah Wallace Bowman, communications manager on board the Ocean Viking, a migrant rescue ship operated by French charities Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and SOS Mediterranee. 

“I don't think I will really be coming to terms with it anytime soon,” she says after having spent close to two months at sea and saving the lives of over 650 people. 

The Ocean Viking, which launched in August, is MSF and SOS Mediterranee’s return to sea-based migrant rescues. The charities had been operating the Aquarius for several years before, but were forced to stop in December 2018 after what MSF Sea described as “sustained attacks on [its] search and rescue [operations] by European states.” 

A lone life jacket floats in the Mediterranean (Pic: Hannah Wallace Bowman)
Members of the Maltese Armed Forces take a group of migrants to a Maltese military ship in the Mediterranean Sea
Children wave at a boat from aboard the Ocean Viking as it reaches the port of Messina, Italy
The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Red Devils' logo
Men’s Rugby League / 12 August 2025
12 August 2025

Fan group The 1873 issues scathing response to owners’ statement saying the club will not close

People inspect the damage at the Sheikh Radwan al-Taba UNRWA clinic following an Israeli army bombardment in Gaza City, August 6, 2025
Gaza / 6 August 2025
6 August 2025

Israeli media awash with leaks and rumours of Netanyahu’s plans to seize Gaza. Meanwhile, the unrelenting siege of Gaza continues unabated 

Demonstrators carrying Palestinian flags look on as the Ship to Gaza boat 'Handala' arrives at the port of Malmö, Sweden, May 8, 2024
Middle East / 29 July 2025
29 July 2025

Mr Smalls and 13 other Freedom Flotilla Coalition activists who tried to break Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza aboard the Handala ship remain in detention and on hunger strike

Similar stories
The crowd at Manchester Punk Festival 2024
Culture / 11 April 2025
11 April 2025
Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
GUILTY PARTIES: Rembrandt Van Rijn (1606-1669), Syndics of t
Book Review / 4 February 2025
4 February 2025
CAROLINE FOWLER explains how the slave trade helped establish the ‘golden age’ of Dutch painting and where to find its hidden traces
RESILIENCE: (Right) Stand Up To Racism protest on October 26
Features / 31 December 2024
31 December 2024
The Morning Star sorts the good eggs from the rotten scoundrels of the year