非常人 海上救难的英雄

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名海岸警卫队队员在面积两倍于意大利大陆的海域巡逻，安东内洛•法瓦中尉(Lieutenant Antonello Fava)是其中之一，他说话时是军人典型的坚定而沉稳的语气。

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.

但当这个35岁的男人描述起13年的工作经历中那些令人痛心的场景时，他的语气变了。13年中，他从海浪中拖出了数千名或生或死的移民。讲述这些经历时，他的声音就变得像地中海的海浪一样起起伏伏。

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.

其中一次营救行动使法瓦中尉引起了教皇方济各(Pope Francis)的注意。上个月，法瓦中尉作为受邀前往梵蒂冈的意大利海岸警卫队代表团的一份子，见到了教皇方济各。在与教皇见面前，这位年轻的中尉可以说是默默无闻的。由于地中海对岸大陆上冲突不断，希望抵达意大利海岸的难民数量激增。而教皇曾指责欧盟(EU)放任地中海变成了“一片海洋坟墓”。

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，法瓦中尉离开了家中怀孕的妻子和18个月的女儿，接受任务前去营救数百名被弃于一艘商船的难民。他所描述的场面，听起来就像是一部灾难片。

“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.”

“他们用信号告诉我们船上有麻烦，”在距他的出生地塔兰托市(Taranto)不远的意大利海岸警卫队的重要基地——南部港口城市巴里(Bari)，法瓦中尉回忆道，“那次任务使我们不得不去做一些非常困难而危险的事情，因为在那一刻我们别无选择。”

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.

法瓦中尉的五人组得到的任务目标是一艘挂着摩尔多瓦旗帜、证实是从希腊飞速驶往意大利南海岸的商船，船上载有多数来自叙利亚的800名移民。海岸警卫队得到的消息是船上可能有充满敌意并持有武器的蛇头。而且海面上风雨交加，浪潮汹涌——部分海面浪高达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.

法瓦中尉和两名队友一起搭乘直升机，在倾盆大雨和狂风之中降落在甲板上。“还是有点难度的，”他以特有的谦逊说起那次差不多耗尽整个晚上的任务。“时间不是很充足，”他补充道，声音紧张起来。他和队友前往控制室但并未发现武装人员。蛇头已经弃船了，控制杆卡在8-9节的速度上，让船沿一条碰撞航线驶往海岸。法瓦中尉和他的队友重新控制了船舵，让船安全到岸。

“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.”

“我不知道他们是否了解自己处于多大的危险之中，但是在经历长途航行后他们显然是痛苦不堪的，”法瓦中尉说，他预计再过20分钟船就会撞上海岸，造成“一场巨大的人间悲剧”。他回忆道：“当我从舰桥爬到甲板上时……他们正在欢呼，留着喜悦的泪水，不断拍着我的背。”

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.”

那么他当时又怎么想呢？“我每次完成救援行动后都会问自己同样的问题，”法瓦中尉说。据意大利内政部称，在去年获救的37580人中，法瓦中尉帮助营救了数百人。“我们把他们营救上岸后，经常跟他们聊天，倾听他们的故事，但我们丝毫无法理解是什么促使他们走上往往无异于自杀的旅途。”

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卷欧洲的移民大讨论的核心问题。意大利国内对此格外群情激奋。该国位于前线，7600公里漏洞重重的海岸线成了很多寻求偷渡欧洲的移民的繁忙登陆点。移民机构警告称，在暖冬和叙利亚、利比亚人道主义危机的交织作用下，偷渡的传统春季高峰可能变得更具致命性。2011年阿拉伯之春之后，偷渡就开始迅猛增加。

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.

在预算削减及反移民政党的施压下，意大利大规模的搜救行动——“我们的海”(Mare Nostrum)，已经于去年被叫停。一些人认为，像法瓦中尉这样的海岸警卫队队员愿意冒着生命危险去营救移民，只会怂恿更多人偷渡。新的Triton行动（一项欧洲边境控制行动）的任务要求有所降低——仅在距意大利海岸30英里的范围内巡逻。

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.

教皇方济各及联合国难民事务高级专员公署(UN High Commissioner for Refugees)称，首要任务必须是在海上拯救生命。意大利总理马泰奥•伦齐(Matteo Renzi)认为，处理利比亚不断恶化的局势，将从根本上解决问题。与此同时，三度陷入衰退的经济状况沉重地打击了意大利的社会凝聚力，反移民言论正在升温。上周六，反移民、反欧元的政党北方联盟(Northern League)——迄今主要在意大利北部活动——走上罗马街头。民意调查显示，该党仇外主义领袖兼欧洲议会议员马泰奥•萨尔维尼(Matteo Salvini)是继伦齐之后人气最高的政客。