The ship arrived this morning, Sunday 30 June, at the port of Livorno Life Support of the Italian NGO Emergency with on board 47 people rescued in the central Mediterranean. The rescue operation, which ended on June 26 at 3.30 pm, took place in international waters in the Libyan SAR area. The 47 castaways, of which 39 men, 3 women and 5 unaccompanied minorswere in a critical situation: crowded onto a 6 meter dinghy, without life jackets.
Once the intervention was concluded, the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) assigned Livorno to Life Support as the port of disembarkation. «In our clinic we have had several patients with chemical burns caused by the mixture of fuel and salt water, which we are treating daily – he said Floriana Pati, nurse on board the Life Support – We have recorded chronic conditions that have never been treated, such as eye problems. Some of the castaways show signs of psychological distress resulting from the journey and prolonged stay in Libya, which will need attention once they arrive in Italy. However, we will continue to carry out medical checks every day until we arrive in port.”
The castaways, originating from Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Libya, Eritrea, Bangladesh, South Sudan and Sudanwere fleeing armed conflict and serious human rights violations. Among them a 22 year old boy from South Sudan: «In 2011 I left to escape the conflicts in my country. With my family we first went to a refugee camp in Kenya, then to one in Uganda and finally in 2017 we went to Sudan, to Khartoum. They were very difficult years, without stability, security, I always felt extraneous to the situation around me. In Khartoum we lived in Mayo camp, where I remember that Emergency had a children’s hospital. Luckily I never had to go there, but I have friends who were taken there for treatment. In 2020 I decided to go to Libya to try to reach Europe, I didn’t see any possibilities for me in Khartoum.”
Then he tells the years in Libya: «The hardest moment was when I was in prison for 5 months and I also got sick, for weeks I couldn’t stand up, I thought I was going to die. I hope that in Europe I and all the people who were rescued together with me will be treated with respect, that we will have the chance to create a new life far from conflicts and injustice».
This is the 31st rescue carried out by Life Support in 20 different missions. The Emergency search and rescue vessel has been active since December 2022 in the central Mediterranean it saved a total of 1,678 people. The ship that arrived this morning is docked at Calata Carrara, dock 75, in front of the maritime station where the first reception service of the civil protection has been set up on the first floor, with doctors who will carry out health checks and the immigration police who will carry out the subsequent identification. After the visits and identification, the migrants will be transferred to reception centers in Piedmont.
