Migrants, the 156 people rescued at sea by Emergency’s “Life Support” landed in Civitavecchia: among the shipwrecked, two women and 28 unaccompanied children

CIVITAVECCHIA – In the port of Civitavecchia at 8.30 this morning, EMERGENCY began the disembarkation of the 156 survivors rescued between the night and the morning of February 16 from the Life Support ship in two different rescue operations. The 156 people rescued come from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sudan, Eritrea, Egypt, Gambia, Chad, Cameroon, Senegal, Mali, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Guinea Konakri. Among them are two women (including a mother of three children aged between 7 and 10) and 28 unaccompanied minors. Many castaways tell of having been arbitrarily detained in Libya where they suffered violence.

The testimonials. “Today is the first day of my life – comments Iusef, one of the men rescued, who bears the signs of the violence suffered in Libya on his body -. I didn’t want to spend my life being a soldier and going to war so I left my country after finishing high school. My younger brother decided to go with me but unfortunately in Libya we were divided and now I have no idea where he is. It’s hard to feel safe now knowing that he’s probably still in some Libyan jail right now. I am 26 years old but I have decided not to count the three years spent in Libya, as if my life had stopped there and only resumed today”. “For two years I traveled alone, knowing that there was no one to help me and that I was the only one who would take care of me. Many times I have thought of my parents, who remained in Nigeria – says Keda, one of the 28 unaccompanied minors on board the Life Support -. Now I feel a huge responsibility upon me, my family has made enormous sacrifices to get me this far and now I will do the same for them”.

The rescue. Rescue operations Life support they took place at two different times. The first involved a small wooden boat in distress in international waters, identified shortly after 12 noon on the night of 16 February. Having informed the competent authorities, the EMERGENCY team started the rescue operations. The transfer on board involved 46 castaways, all men from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sudan, Eritrea and Egypt. After completing the rescue operations and informing the authorities, the Life support he asked for a POS where to disembark the shipwrecked. While she waited for an answer, she resumed her search for a boat in precarious condition that had been reported by rescued people during the night. Around 8.30 in the morning, one hour after receiving the POS of Civitavecchia, Life Support identified another vessel in difficulty. It was a gray dinghy about ten meters long. Life Support has started rescue operations in coordination with the Italian MRCC. There were 110 shipwrecked people. The operations ended at 11.30. For now, there are no traces of the boat reported by the shipwrecked first aiders.

They were really at risk. “During the two rescue operations we were the only NGO in international waters in the Sar area. We had quite a hard time as both boats had obvious navigation problems. The lives of these people were truly at risk if we hadn’t found them in time – declares Emanuele Nannini, Head of EMERGENCY SAR mission – For us, the meaning of this mission is above all to save the lives of people fleeing war, torture and situations of suffering but above all from the Libyan hell. Civil society is trying to fill a void that has been created by the indifference and short-sightedness of institutions which on the one hand do not guarantee safe channels for coming to Europe and on the other are doing everything possible to ensure that the deadliest border of immigration is left completely uncovered. Our mandate is to continue saving lives at sea.”