Rescued at sea, the Emergency Sar ship rescued 38 shipwrecked people in Maltese international waters

MILANO – Late yesterday morning, the Life Supportsearch and rescue vessel of EMERGENCYbrought to safety 38 people who were on board a vessel adrift in international waters in the Maltese SAR zone. The report of the case in difficulty came before 9am from Alarm Phone – the project managed since 8 October 2014 by volunteers from Europe, Tunisia and Morocco, involved in the rescue of refugees at sea – and was subsequently also confirmed on VHF channel 16 by a mayday relay with which we were also provided with an update on his position.

Among the castaways, 14 women and 4 children. The sighting of the small and overcrowded fiberglass boat from the command deck of the Life Support it took place at around 11am, while the rescue ended at 12.10pm with the safe transfer on board the EMERGENCY ship of the 38 castaways, including 14 women, 4 accompanied minors and 2 minors traveling alone.

Boat overloaded and engines broken. “The boat’s engines were broken, the vehicle was taking on water and was leaning on one side – explains Jonathan Naní SAR Team Leader of the Life Support – the 38 people adrift on the fiberglass boat were exhausted from the many hours of navigation, but fortunately the weather was so good and our team of rescuers first made everyone safe by distributing life jackets and then brought the castaways on board the Life Support. Now our medical staff is examining everyone to check their health conditions. Once the rescue was finished we informed the competent authorities and made our availability available for any further interventions.”

They left on October 30 from Misurata, Libya. The people rescued by Life Support reported that they left at 2 am on October 30 from Misrata, Libya, and come from Syria, Nigeria, Palestine and Niger, countries affected by war, violence, poverty and political insecurity.

The final destination will be Livorno. At the Life Support the port of Livorno was assigned and the EMERGENCY ship, which had given its availability for further interventions and had received a new report of a boat in danger, was authorized by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Italian to delay the arrival in port. There Life Supportactive in the Central Mediterranean since December 2022, is carrying out its twenty-fifth search and rescue mission. So far it has rescued a total of 2,259 people.