48 SURVIVORS AND 7 BODIES DISEMBARKED FROM LIFE SUPPORT IN BARI

The 48 remaining survivors on board Life Support, EMERGENCY’s search and rescue (SAR) vessel, disembarked today in Puglia at the port of Bari, three days after being rescued in international waters within the Libyan Search and Rescue zone.

Once all survivors had disembarked, at around 11:45 am, operations began to bring ashore seven bodies. The operation was completed at 1:45 pm.

“After three days at sea, we finally arrived in Bari. Assigning ports so far away causes further suffering to people who are already in a highly vulnerable state and who have experienced traumatic events,” said Jonathan Nanì La Terra, mission leader of EMERGENCY’s Life Support. “We wish each and every one of them the very best.”

During the rescue operation on Monday 17 August, Life Support encountered a wooden boat carrying 57 people. Seven had died during the crossing, while two survivors were in critical condition due to suffocation and required an urgent medical evacuation, which took place on Monday 17 August in the afternoon.

The 50 survivors rescued on Monday by EMERGENCY staff are from Somalia and Egypt; five are women and 45 are men. Among them are 31 unaccompanied foreign minors, of whom 28 are boys and three are girls.

“We are at sea to save lives; it is so incredibly painful, however, to recover bodies,” comments Luca Radaelli, a nurse with the Life Support SAR Team. “It gives us some comfort, though, to know that for everyone else – starting with the two people who were unconscious at the time of the rescue and who were medically evacuated – we made a difference.”

Chiara Picciocchi, a cultural mediator on board Life Support, adds: “Whilst at sea, we had the chance to meet many minors who, full of hope, wanted to reach Italy and Europe – a safe place for them. In addition to all the difficult experiences they have endured, including their time in Libya, these young people also had to cope with the loss of some of their travel companions during the crossing of the Mediterranean. We hope that they will now be welcomed with dignity in Italy and that their rights will be protected.”

Among the survivors is an unaccompanied 17-year-old Somali boy who shared his experience: “I decided to leave my country because of the lack of safety. But also because there was no job there that would allow me to support my family financially. I have four brothers and four sisters; my father died in an Al-Shabaab attack. I left without telling my mother; I rang her once I’d arrived in Sudan – I miss her terribly. Before boarding that wooden boat in Zuwara, I undertook a long journey: it took me a year to cross Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan, and finally reach Libya, where sub-Saharan migrants are often imprisoned and beaten. The sea crossing was perhaps the most dangerous part of my journey. On the wooden boat where they found us, I was below deck with two friends: one was taken to hospital, the other, sadly, died there. They were the same age as me. They were young. Now I hope to find safety, peace of mind and to be able to build a good life for myself. One of my aunts is in Germany.”

EMERGENCY continues to call for a change in Italian and European migration policies. Policies that externalise and restrict increase the dangers and suffering faced by people on the move while strengthening the trafficking networks they are intended to combat. The new European Pact on Migration and Asylum is no exception in this regard.

According to the International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants Project 1,699 people have died or gone missing along migration routes in the Mediterranean since the start of 2026, more than 900 of them along the Central Mediterranean route alone.

For this reason, EMERGENCY – as it has done on many previous occasions – is once again calling on Italy and Europe to create legal and safe routes to Europe, expand opportunities for regular migration to Europe, fund a European SAR mission, and invest adequately in dignified and inclusive reception.

With today’s disembarkation, Life Support has concluded its 45th mission in the central Mediterranean. EMERGENCY’s SAR vessel has been operating in this region since December 2022 and, during this period, has rescued a total of 3,588 people.