Mission 21 | Life Support Rescues 74 People in Libyan SAR Zone

In the early morning of Wednesday, 10 July, Life Support – EMERGENCY’s search and rescue vessel – rescued 74 people from two boats in distress within the international waters of the Libyan SAR zone. Forty-one people were on board the first vessel, and 33 on the second.

The two boats were sighted around 5:00 a.m. from the ship’s bridge, via radar. The rescue, which began at 5:30 a.m., was completed with the safe transfer of the 74 people on board Life Support around 6:20 a.m.

“This morning, through radar scanning we spotted two boats about two miles from our location,” says Domenico Pugliese, captain of Life Support. “We approached them and saw that there were two overcrowded boats in distress. We put our dinghies in the water and rescued 74 people, including five women and five unaccompanied children.”

The survivors reported that they had left from Tajura, Libya, around midnight the same day. The boats left about half an hour apart and then found themselves close together at sea.

“There were two fibreglass boats, more or less seven metres long, overcrowded and without life jackets,” reports Jonathan Nanì La Terra, SAR Team Leader on board Life Support. “Fortunately, the marine weather conditions were quite good. The team was very quick to approach and stabilise the boats with life jackets and evacuate them, bringing everyone on board Life Support.”

Among those rescued were five women and five unaccompanied children. The rescued people came from Bangladesh, Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan and Syria: countries affected by war, poverty, and economic and political insecurity.

“Among the 74 people on board, there are five women, five unaccompanied children, and a man without a leg, due to a bombing in Syria in 2014,” adds Crescenzo Caiazza, nurse on board. “There are no extremely critical cases on board, only people suffering from dehydration and severe seasickness. Over the next few hours, we will continue to provide all the necessary care and assistance.”

After completing the rescue and informing the relevant authorities, Life Support was assigned Civitavecchia as its port of disembarkation. Arrival is scheduled for Friday, 12 July, around 22:00.

Life Support, which has been active in the Central Mediterranean since December 2022, is currently on its 21st search and rescue mission. To date, it has rescued a total of 1,752 people.