The first ever World Drowning Prevention Day was marked by the UN on July 25. It was dedicated to the theme ‘anyone can drown, no one should’, a message that I fully support. With MOAS, the international NGO founded to help migrants in danger during crossings in the Mediterranean, we witnessed the desperate conditions people endured before being rescued at sea. Often, we saw first-hand the pain of those who had lost their loved ones on previous sea crossings. #NobodyDeserveToDieAtSea – this is the hashtag launched by MOAS in 2014 on the occasion of our first active search and rescue mission in the Mediterranean.