非常人 海上救難的英雄

Lieutenant Antonello Fava, one of the 11,000 coastguards who every day patrol an area of ocean twice as big as the mainland, speaks in the firm, measured tone you would expect from a military man.

每天有11000名海岸警衛隊隊員在面積兩倍於意大利大陸的海域巡邏，安東內洛•法瓦中尉(Lieutenant Antonello Fava)是其中之一，他說話時是軍人典型的堅定而沉穩的語氣。

Except, that is, when the 35-year-old describes the more harrowing sights from his 13 years in the job, pulling thousands of migrants alive and dead from the waves. Then his voice rises and falls like the Mediterranean Sea.

但當這個35歲的男人描述起13年的工作經歷中那些令人痛心的場景時，他的語氣變了。13年中，他從海浪中拖出了數千名或生或死的移民。講述這些經歷時，他的聲音就變得像地中海的海浪一樣起起伏伏。

One such scene brought Lt Fava to the attention of Pope Francis, whom he met this month as part of a delegation of Italian coastguards invited to the Vatican. Before meeting the pontiff — who has berated the EU for letting the Mediterranean become “a watery grave” amid a surge in the numbers seeking to reach Italy’s shores as conflicts flare across the sea — the young lieutenant was largely unknown.

其中一次營救行動使法瓦中尉引起了教皇方濟各(Pope Francis)的注意。上個月，法瓦中尉作爲受邀前往梵蒂岡的意大利海岸警衛隊代表團的一份子，見到了教皇方濟各。在與教皇見面前，這位年輕的中尉可以說是默默無聞的。由於地中海對岸大陸上衝突不斷，希望抵達意大利海岸的難民數量激增。而教皇曾指責歐盟(EU)放任地中海變成了“一片海洋墳墓”。

On New Year’s eve, he left his pregnant wife and 18-month-old daughter at home and embarked on a mission to rescue hundreds of refugees abandoned on a merchant ship. The scene he encountered sounds like something from a disaster movie.

在新年前夕，法瓦中尉離開了家中懷孕的妻子和18個月的女兒，接受任務前去營救數百名被棄於一艘商船的難民。他所描述的場面，聽起來就像是一部災難片。

“They had signalled to us there were problems on board,” recalls Lt Fava, speaking from the southern port city Bari, an important base for Italy’s coastguard not far from the city of Taranto where he was born. “It was an operation that forced us to do something very difficult and dangerous because in that moment there was no other solution.”

“他們用信號告訴我們船上有麻煩，”在距他的出生地塔蘭託市(Taranto)不遠的意大利海岸警衛隊的重要基地——南部港口城市巴里(Bari)，法瓦中尉回憶道，“那次任務使我們不得不去做一些非常困難而危險的事情，因爲在那一刻我們別無選擇。”

The target for his five-strong team was a Moldovan-flagged merchant ship spotted careering from Greece towards the southern coast, packed with 800 mostly Syrian migrants. The word was there could be people smugglers on board, armed and hostile. In addition, the seas were stormy and the waves high — five to six metres in some places.

法瓦中尉的五人組得到的任務目標是一艘掛着摩爾多瓦旗幟、證實是從希臘飛速駛往意大利南海岸的商船，船上載有多數來自敘利亞的800名移民。海岸警衛隊得到的消息是船上可能有充滿敵意並持有武器的蛇頭。而且海面上風雨交加，浪潮洶涌——部分海面浪高達5-6米。

So Lt Fava and two colleagues took to helicopters, landing on deck in driving rain and high winds. “Not without a little difficulty,” he says with characteristic humility of a mission which took most of the night. “There was not a lot of time,” he adds, his voice tightening. He and his colleagues headed for the control room but found no armed men. The smugglers had already bailed, leaving the controls jammed at 8 to 9 knots on a collision course for the coast. Lt Fava and his colleagues wrested back control of the steering and brought the ship to shore.

法瓦中尉和兩名隊友一起搭乘直升機，在傾盆大雨和狂風之中降落在甲板上。“還是有點難度的，”他以特有的謙遜說起那次差不多耗盡整個晚上的任務。“時間不是很充足，”他補充道，聲音緊張起來。他和隊友前往控制室但並未發現武裝人員。蛇頭已經棄船了，控制桿卡在8-9節的速度上，讓船沿一條碰撞航線駛往海岸。法瓦中尉和他的隊友重新控制了船舵，讓船安全到岸。

“I don’t know if they knew how much danger they were in but they were clearly distressed after a long journey,” says Lt Fava, who estimates that in another 20 minutes the boat would have hit the coast, creating “an enormous human tragedy”. He recalls: “When I clambered from the bridge to the deck . . . they were cheering and crying with joy and clapping me on the back.”

“我不知道他們是否瞭解自己處於多大的危險之中，但是在經歷長途航行後他們顯然是痛苦不堪的，”法瓦中尉說，他預計再過20分鐘船就會撞上海岸，造成“一場巨大的人間悲劇”。他回憶道：“當我從艦橋爬到甲板上時……他們正在歡呼，留着喜悅的淚水，不斷拍着我的背。”

And how did he feel? “I ask myself the same question every time we make a rescue,” says Lt Fava — who, according to the interior ministry, has helped rescue several hundred of the 37,580 people saved last year. “We often talk to them, listen to their stories while we bring them ashore, but we cannot begin to understand what brings them to take these journeys that are often suicidal.”

那麼他當時又怎麼想呢？“我每次完成救援行動後都會問自己同樣的問題，”法瓦中尉說。據意大利內政部稱，在去年獲救的37580人中，法瓦中尉幫助營救了數百人。“我們把他們營救上岸後，經常跟他們聊天，傾聽他們的故事，但我們絲毫無法理解是什麼促使他們走上往往無異於自殺的旅途。”

Lt Fava’s tale goes to the heart of the immigration debate embroiling Europe. In Italy, the mood is especially fractious. The country sits at the front line, with its porous 7,600km coastal border a busy entry point for those seeking a way into Europe. Migration agencies warn that a confluence of a mild winter and humanitarian crises in Syria and Libya mean the traditional springtime surge in human smuggling — a trade that began in earnest with the Arab uprisings of 2011 — could grow even deadlier.

法瓦中尉的故事也是席捲歐洲的移民大討論的核心問題。意大利國內對此格外羣情激奮。該國位於前線，7600公里漏洞重重的海岸線成了很多尋求偷渡歐洲的移民的繁忙登陸點。移民機構警告稱，在暖冬和敘利亞、利比亞人道主義危機的交織作用下，偷渡的傳統春季高峯可能變得更具致命性。2011年阿拉伯之春之後，偷渡就開始迅猛增加。

An extensive Italian search and rescue operation, Mare Nostrum, was closed last year amid budget cuts and pressure from anti-immigrant parties. The fact that coastguards such as Lt Fava were willing to risk their lives to save migrants only encouraged them to come, some argued. The new Triton operation, a European border control mission, has a reduced mandate — patrolling only 30 miles off Italy’s coast.

在預算削減及反移民政黨的施壓下，意大利大規模的搜救行動——“我們的海”(Mare Nostrum)，已經於去年被叫停。一些人認爲，像法瓦中尉這樣的海岸警衛隊隊員願意冒着生命危險去營救移民，只會慫恿更多人偷渡。新的Triton行動（一項歐洲邊境控制行動）的任務要求有所降低——僅在距意大利海岸30英里的範圍內巡邏。

The Pope and UN High Commissioner for Refugees say the priority must be saving lives at sea. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi argues that dealing with the deteriorating situation in Libya would tackle the problem at the root. Meanwhile, anti-immigration rhetoric is rising in Italy, where a triple-dip recession has taken a toll on social cohesion. This Saturday the anti-immigrant, anti-euro Northern League party — so far mainly a northern phenomenon — is taking to the streets of Rome. Opinion polls show Matteo Salvini, the party’s xenophobic leader and an MEP, is the most popular politician after Mr Renzi.

教皇方濟各及聯合國難民事務高級專員公署(UN High Commissioner for Refugees)稱，首要任務必須是在海上拯救生命。意大利總理馬泰奧•倫齊(Matteo Renzi)認爲，處理利比亞不斷惡化的局勢，將從根本上解決問題。與此同時，三度陷入衰退的經濟狀況沉重地打擊了意大利的社會凝聚力，反移民言論正在升溫。上週六，反移民、反歐元的政黨北方聯盟(Northern League)——迄今主要在意大利北部活動——走上羅馬街頭。民意調查顯示，該黨仇外主義領袖兼歐洲議會議員馬泰奧•薩爾維尼(Matteo Salvini)是繼倫齊之後人氣最高的政客。