For three weeks last month HuffPost UK witnessed first hand the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean during one of its most controversial and eventful phases.
Aboard the SOS Méditerranée-operated Aquarius we witnessed the rescue - and deaths - of desperate migrants, the “grim” yet life-saving work of NGOs, a Libyan Coast Guard that operates more like an armed militia than a professional organisation, all whilst being pursued by the misguided and almost entirely ineffective ship of the far-right Defend Europe mission.
On shore during this time the Italian Government was locked in heated negotiations about the very nature of the Aquarius’s role and EU leaders were meeting in a thus far-failed attempt to solve the hugely intractable migrant crisis.
While a solution remains apparently out of reach for world leaders and politicians, this is the story of the individuals on the front line of the biggest flow of people to Europe since the Second World War.