Genoa, the Emergency ship “Life Support” has left its moorings, route: central Mediterranean

GENOA – The ship set sail yesterday from the Port of Genoa for its first mission Life support from EMERGENCY, directed to the waters of the Central Mediterranean. There Life support renews EMERGENCY’s commitment to those who do not see their rights recognized or protected, first of all the right to life. According to theInternational Organization for Migration (oim) since 2014, more than 20,000 people have died or disappeared along the central Mediterranean route, or an average of six people a day. In 2022 alone, over 1,300 people have lost their lives or are missing on the most dangerous migration route in the world.

“Our way of continuing to do our part”. “Whether a person loses his life under the bombs in Ukraine, in the streets of Kabul or in the waves of the Mediterranean makes no difference to us: it is always a person who dies unjustly – says Rossella Miccio, president of EMERGENCY – for years our staff have served on other NGOs’ relief vessels, helping to save the lives of thousands of human beings. Today, after months of work, we are going to sea with one of our ships, the Life support, to reaffirm our commitment to the right to life for all”. “There Life support intervenes in a place considered to be the most dangerous frontier for migrants, both in terms of the number of dead and missing people – says Pietro Parrino, director of the Field Operations Department of EMERGENCY – is our way of continuing to do our part, remembering that rescue at sea is an obligation under the law of the sea but also a moral obligation”.

Daniele Silvestri also supports the project. In support of the new EMERGENCY project also two artists, the singer-songwriter Daniele Silvestri and the street artist Tvboy. “A ship in the middle of the sea: a simple and very powerful image, but also the only one that manages to put together two opposite emotions: the greatest hope and the greatest despair” – are the words of Daniele Silvestri in the video The shipsmade on board the ship Life support. In the video, the singer-songwriter, accompanied by Marco Santoro’s bassoon, refers to the desperation of migrants who risk their lives to get to Europe and expresses the hope that “ships like this can intercept the stories of migrants before they disappear under these waves. And this hope is perhaps the most just, and it is a duty”. On the deckhouse of the Life Support the work of the artist Tvboy. The exponent of the Street Art movement wanted to express his support to the shipwrecked people who will be welcomed there and to the ship’s crew by creating the work EMERGE – a 3×2 m mural representing two arms grabbing each other in the waves.

Gino Strada’s quote on the sides of the ship. On the sides of the ship, the phrase of Gino Strada, surgeon and founder of EMERGENCY, is written: “Rights belong to everyone, otherwise call them privileges”, which sums up the philosophy that inspires this project, like all the projects of the international organization. The ship, 51.3 meters long and 12 meters wide, can accommodate up to 175 survivors, in addition to the crew. The Life Support team is made up of a total of 28 people, including 9 seafarers and 19 from the EMERGENCY staff. In particular, the health team is made up of two nurses, a doctor and two cultural mediators, with experience in EMERGENCY projects in countries such as Italy, Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan. Once rescued, the survivors will undergo a medical triage during which they will receive a code according to which they will be accompanied to the clinic, on the main deck, for observation, on the neighboring benches or in the open-air reception area.