German Rescue Ship Sea Eye Carrying 400 Migrants Picks Up Another 400 From Sinking Wooden Boat In Mediterranean Sea
A rescue ship carrying nearly 400 passengers picked up another 400 people from a sinking wooden boat in the Mediterranean Sea.
A rescue ship carrying nearly 400 passengers picked up another 400 people from a sinking wooden boat in the Mediterranean Sea.
Sea-Eye 4, which is run by a German non-governmental organisation of the same name, already had almost 400 migrants on board meaning it was then carrying double the number of people, the Associated Press reported.
Twitter/@seaeyeorg
Sea-Eye said the wooden boat issued a distress call while it was in an area normally covered by Malta¡¯s search and rescue teams. They said that when Maltese authorities did not respond their ship travelled for around six hours to help.
As per the report, Malta¡¯s search and rescue area covers a broad swathe of the central Mediterranean, including the waters surrounding Italy¡¯s southernmost island of Lampedusa and part of the corridor between Libya and Sicily.
? In der Nacht zum Donnerstag retteten #SeaEye und @SEENOTRETTUNG ¨¹ber 4??0??0?? Menschen aus einem doppelst?ckigen Holzboot. Als die #RISEABOVE bei dem Boot eintraf, war bereits ein Leck im Boot, durch das Wasser eindrang. 1/4 pic.twitter.com/eYwVxC0pWZ
¡ª sea-eye (@seaeyeorg) November 4, 2021
Seeing that ¡°no other help was available to people in acute danger,¡± the rescue ship Sea-Eye 4 traveled for about six hours to reach the rickety boat, which had a leak and was taking on water, the Germany charity said.
It was said that another ship, Rise Up, also responded to the emergency but did not take on any migrants.
¡°Several people were in the water without life jackets and had to be rescued directly from the sea,¡± said Sea-Eye, which operates the rescue ship along with the NGO German Doctors. It said one person had to be resuscitated while a lifeboat.
Last night, #OceanViking mobilised to assist ~400 people in distress 10 hours from her position. People were recovered by #SeaEye4 before our arrival on scene. We have assisted #SeaEye4 & over 800 survivors onboard their ship with extra food supplies last night and this morning. pic.twitter.com/CVGbC2lCqK
¡ª SOS MEDITERRANEE (@SOSMedIntl) November 4, 2021
Earlier, Sea-Eye 4 was on its way to the island of Lampedusa, the closest safe port, but the charity said it still had not received confirmation from Italy¡¯s rescue coordination centre in Rome that the ship would be allowed to dock.
Sea-Eye chairman Gorden Isler said the situation on board the ship was reaching a critical point.
He also accused Malta of shirking its duty and ignoring distress calls.
