Sea-Eye and Mission Lifeline rescue 63 people from unseaworthy rubber boat
SEA-EYE 4 has 63 rescued people on board after joint civil fleet rescue operation
On Friday evening, the crews of the SEA-EYE 4 of Sea-Eye e.V. and the RISE ABOVE of Mission Lifeline e.V. rescued 63 people from an unseaworthy rubber boat and thus from acute danger to their lives. Among those rescued were 12 unaccompanied minors and five women. By the time of the rescue, the people had already been at sea for one and a half days.
The distress case was reported to the authorities by the aid organization AlarmPhone at noon and forwarded to the two rescue ships. After several hours of searching, the boat was found. When the RISE ABOVE reached the boat, the crew of the ship carried out first aid. Subsequently, the crew of the SEA-EYE 4 evacuated the people from the unseaworthy rubber boat in order to provide them with medical care and to supply the people with food, drink and warm clothing.
“Some of the people rescued suffered chemical burns from gasoline spills on the rubber boat. Many were very weak and suffered from seasickness, so we had to stabilize people first. Numerous people also have older injuries from presumably traumatic experiences. At the moment, all those rescued are in stable condition and out of life-threatening danger,” said Nour Hanna, the mission doctor from German Doctors, describing the state of health of the guests after the rescue.
The rescue operation once again showed how effectively cooperation within the civilian fleet works: “Fleeing across the Mediterranean is particularly dangerous at this time of year because the weather can change quickly. That’s why we are happy that the cooperation between different civil organizations works so well. But it remains unforgivable that this work is still organized by us and our partners, instead of state actors. We therefore maintain the demand for a state-organized sea rescue mission with the clear mandate to save as many lives as possible,” says Gorden Isler, chairman of Sea-Eye e.V.