On 1st July, the master of an Italian product tanker saved the lives of 70 migrants adrift in the Mediterranean, transferred the people to the tanker and took them to Italy.
In particular, the NGO Sea-Watch Italy is reporting that its spotter airplane Seabird 2 detected an open-air boat heavily loaded with people. The boat appeared to be in distress in the SAR region for Malta. Normally the group’s vessel the Aurora might have been directed to intervene but their ship was finishing up a 20-day detention in Italy for disobeying orders on a previous rescue.
The group notified the Italian and Maltese authorities of the plight of the open-air boat and not seeing an immediate response also alerted an Italian-registered product tanker Calajunco M. (21,600 dwt) about the small boat that was in danger nearby.
As informed, the master of the tanker navigated his vessel which had departed Tunisia looking for what he was told was a small gray boat. Finding the boat, he positioned his tanker and made contact with the people determining that the boat’s engine had stalled out and it was drifting.
He contacted the authorities, which according to media reports instructed the captain to assist the boat in restarting its outboard motor.
As explained, waiting for additional instructions, the master of the tanker reportedly began supplying the migrants with lifejackets, blankets, and first aid supplies. While he had not received additional instructions, he determined that the boat was in danger as the weather was growing worse. He said that sea conditions were at force 4 and winds were reaching 20 knots.
