One person dehydrated, another with too little oxygen in his blood: the aid organisation Sea-Eye says it has once again rescued migrants in distress at sea. Helicopters were also deployed.
New refugee rescues from the Mediterranean: The aid organisation Sea-Eye says it has rescued a total of 31 people from precarious situations in two missions. This was announced by Sea-Eye on Tuesday evening in Regensburg.
The crew of the “Sea-Eye 5” initially rescued 14 people on 19 July. “One person was dehydrated and spent the night in the ship’s hospital. The next day, all those rescued were able to go ashore safely in Reggio Calabria,” it said.
On 24 July, the crew then came to the aid of a further 17 people. “One person had inhaled too much fuel, which led to low oxygen levels in their blood.” She was given oxygen and treated for dehydration on board and then taken by helicopter to a hospital in Malta. “A few hours after the helicopter operation, the health of a second person deteriorated and the crew requested a further medical evacuation. An Italian coastguard vessel took them on board and brought them ashore in Lampedusa.”
Assigned harbour far away
After the operation, the Italian authorities assigned the “Sea-Eye 5” to the port of Vibo Valentia, which is around 400 nautical miles away from the rescue site, it was reported. After a journey of almost 30 hours, the remaining 15 rescued people finally made it safely ashore.
According to Sea-Eye, the organisation rescued 760 people from the Mediterranean last year. Almost a fortnight ago, the organisation and dozens of other initiatives complained that the Italian government was systematically obstructing civilian sea rescue operations. In June alone, private ships were detained three times, and this has happened 29 times since 2023. According to the organisations, many Italian courts have classified this behaviour as unlawful. They warned that such a practice could lead to countless more deaths in the central Mediterranean, one of the world’s deadliest escape routes.
