A young Ivorian mother endured a string of hardships before finally boarding the Ocean Viking rescue ship, but she says she would rather have died at sea than have to return to a Libyan detention centre where beatings were routine.
The 28-year-old, who would give only her first name Bintu, was rescued Friday along with two of her children, aged one and three, and is now recovering aboard the charity ship Ocean Viking.
Libya has been mired in chaos since a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with rival administrations operating in the west and east of the oil-rich country.