Thousands of men, women and children die trying to cross the Mediterranean every year. They leave from Libya, Tunisia, Algeria or Morocco in the hope of a better existence in Europe. This often ends in tragedy and the Mediterranean Sea being dubbed the world's largest open-air cemetery. FRANCE 24's Céline Schmitt, Armelle Exposito and Sarah Morris report.
FRANCE 24’s team travelled to the region to report on the near impossible task of identifying the bodies recovered. Locals and volunteers are trying to piece together the fate of those who attempted the perilous crossing, never to be seen again.
In the south of Spain, our team met Martin Zamorra, who is known as the "the migrants' undertaker". For the past 20 years, he has undertaken the task of returning the bodies of those who perished.
In the southern city of Cadiz, Maria Lopez is a forensic pathologist and works tirelessly to identify and give dignity to the hundreds who died.
José Pablo Baraybar works for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) where he is a world specialist in finding those who have disappeared. He and his colleagues try to find out if the missing have reached Europe safely and not perished or fallen into the hands of criminal gangs.
