Life Support | 14 People Rescued in the Central Mediterranean

At around 7:30 this morning, EMERGENCY's search and rescue vessel Life Support brought 14 people to safety on board in the international waters of the Libyan SAR zone. Among the rescued was an unaccompanied minor.

"Around 6 am, when it was still dark, an unidentified fibreglass boat approached Life Support at high speed. At a distance of about 70 metres, the people on board jumped into the water and called for help," said Jonathan Nanì La Terra, Head of Mission on board Life Support.

"We then launched our rescue vessels, secured the people in the water with flotation devices, recovered everyone from the water and finally transferred them from the RHIBs to safety on board Life Support. After the rescue was complete, a Libyan patrol boat contacted us and came to our position, asking us for information about the rescue operation we had just carried out and ordering us to head north. Life Support remains active in the operational zone, available for any further interventions."

Some people remained on board the fibreglass boat, which quickly moved away but remained in the area until the end of the rescue operation.

The rescued people were all male, including one unaccompanied minor. Their countries of origin include Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia, countries impacted by violence and extreme poverty. They reported leaving the Libyan town of Zawiya at 6 p.m. the previous day.

"Some of the rescued people showed signs of hypothermia, weakness and dehydration. Two were so weak that they could not stand up, so stretchers were required to bring them on board Life Support," explains Silvana Zaccardi, Doctor on board Life Support. "Once they arrived on the ship, we triaged all the survivors and provided care to those whose health conditions required it. They are now better, and all are doing well."

The competent authorities have assigned Life Support the port of Bari as POS for disembarkation.

Operating since December 2022, Life Support is currently on its 40th mission in the central Mediterranean. A total of 3,248 people have been rescued.