Life Support | 147 People Rescued in 3 Operations

Between 6 and 7 August, EMERGENCY’s Search and Rescue (SAR) vessel, Life Support, carried out three rescue operations, rescuing 31, 47 and 69 people, respectively. One patient was evacuated by an Italian Coast Guard helicopter for medical assistance. There are currently 146 people on board Life Support.

On the morning of 6 August, Life Support rescued 31 people from a boat in distress in the Libyan SAR area. They had been on board a small grey dinghy smelling of petrol and lacking life preservers.

While waiting for the authorities to assign a Place of Safety (POS) to disembark the survivors, the search and rescue ship received a mayday relay from Frontex’s Sparrow 2 aircraft, via VHF Channel 16. We informed the authorities of our readiness to rescue, asking them to delay Life Support’s required arrival to the assigned POS in Savona, in northern Italy.

While Life Support was proceeding towards the last known position of the distress case, a merchant ship reported it had sighted a boat in distress possibly corresponding to the one reported by Sparrow 2. Life Support proceeded towards the updated position and began a search pattern.

After several hours, at 21:45, a boat matching the reports was spotted from the bridge, in the international waters between the Libyan and Tunisian SAR areas. The overcrowded white dinghy had no life jackets for the people on board. Our rescue team stabilised the 47 people on board, including three unaccompanied minors, and brought them on board Life Support.

Following the rescue, Life Support began proceeding to the POS, Savona. While sailing, at 9:00 on 7 August, between the Maltese and Tunisian SAR areas and 24 miles from Italian waters, a vessel approaching at high speed was spotted from the bridge.

“When the boat was about 200 metres from our ship, we could see that it was overcrowded, with people calling for help,” explains Jonathan Naní La Terra, Life Support’s Head of Mission. “Two people at the helm of the boat had their faces covered. Our Cultural Mediator ordered the boat to stop in several languages, but the driver ignored the instructions and approached the left side of Life Support in a dangerous manner, urging the passengers to jump onto our ship. People began jumping to cling to our ship, while many of them fell into the water.”

The Life Support team immediately deployed life jackets and flotation devices from the bridge and lowered a raft, while the boat drivers departed with some of the vulnerable people still on board.

Our rescue team saved those who had fallen into the water, including one unconscious person who was immediately attended to by our medical team and evacuated by an Italian Coast Guard helicopter at 10:50am.

At the moment, Life Support is heading towards the assigned POS in Savona.

“The people rescued are suffering various physical injuries due to the manoeuvres carried out by their boat,” said Marzia Gentile, Medical Team Leader on board Life Support. “The journey to Savona will only increase the suffering they have already experienced before and during the sea crossing.”

Despite the extreme physical and psychological vulnerability of those rescued, the authorities rejected the request for a closer port of disembarkation and confirmed the POS in Savona, three days’ sailing away. At present, there are 146 survivors on board, including 20 unaccompanied minors and four adult women, one of whom is pregnant.

The Life Support team is comprised of 29 people, including crew, doctors, nurses, cultural mediators and rescuers. On its 35th mission in the central Mediterranean, it has rescued a total of 3,001 people since December 2022.