OCTOBER 2023

3 October Colibri 2 provides critical support to Nadir in 3 operations with 125 people in distress.
4 October The Alarm Phone receives a distress call from a boat with 53 people. Louise Michel is in the area and finds the overcrowded rubber boat. After performing the rescue, Louise Michel responds to a mayday relay and rescues an additional 30 people, who had been adrift for 3 days without food. All 83 are disembarked the following day in Pozzallo.
5 October Open Arms is punished with 20-day administrative blockade and faces a fine of up to 10,000 euros by Italian authorities after interrogating Open Arms’s captain and SAR coordinator for more than six hours. (5) Alarm Phone learns of a distress case with 45 people in an overcrowded and unseaworthy wooden boat. Nadir responds to stabilize and provide first aid to the boat. Later that night, an iron boat with 48 people is also found. All 93 people are safely transferred to the Italian authorities.
6 October Colibri 2 spots 3 boats with around 130 people. Two are stabilized by Aurora and the 100 people on board are safely transferred to the Italian authorities. 258 people in total are rescued by Geo Barents from 2 unseaworthy wooden boats. They are safely disembarked 3 days later in Salerno.
7 October Colibri 2 spots 4 separate boats with around 170 people, 2 of which had been alerted by Alarm Phone. Aurora reaches one overcrowded wooden barges at risk of sinking where 110 people are stabilized with life vests until the Italian authorities arrive and complete the rescue. Life Support responds as well and aids a second boat. Of the remaining 2 boats, 1 arrives in Lampedusa autonomously and the fate of the fourth remains unknown. (6)
8 October Life Support conducts two more rescues of 48 people from the Maltese SAR zone. Alarm Phone provided the initial alert for the first case of 21 people, the location of which was confirmed by Seabird. The second boat with 27 people was found after Life Support began navigating to assigned POS Livorno.
9 October AlarmPhone receives a distress call from 21 people who had already been at sea for 3 days. Aurora performs the rescue and is assigned the distant port of Trapani.
10 October In collaboration with Alarm Phone, Seabird notifies Louise Michel of a boat in distress. After rescuing the 19 people onboard, Louise Michel heads to Pozzallo for disembarkation.
11 October Alarm Phone is contacted about a wooden boat with 48 people which is also spotted by Seabird. Despite authorities knowing their positions for many hours, they ignore their duty to respond. Aita Mari responds and in coordination with Seabird finds a second boat in the vicinity. All 69 survivors are brought onboard.
13 October Aurora rescues 53 people from an overcrowded boat. The port of Pozzallo is assigned, 17 hours of sailing time away from the rescue operation site. 69 people from 2 boats alerted by Alarm Phone are rescued by Aita Mari. The distant port of Genova is assigned, requiring a journey of 900km. Eventually, disembarkation for survivors occurs in Naples. (7)
14 October Mare Jonio rescues 47 people from an ironclad boat that was sinking. Everyone is safely disembarked in Lampedusa.
15 October Alarm Phone receives a distress call about a boat in the Maltese SAR zone which is confirmed by Seabird 2. 31 people are rescued through the coordination of the civil fleet, during which neither the Italian nor the Maltese authorities respond. In the middle of the night, Geo Barents responds to a distress case of 63 people from a rubber boat that had deflated. The case had been alerted by AlarmPhone and spotted by Seabird 2. Everyone was brought safely on board, however the Italian authorities assigned the distant port of Genova requiring 1166km of travel.
16 October Alarm Phone is contacted about a distress case with 31 people. Humanity 1 responds and is able to locate and safely bring aboard the survivors. Humanity 1 completes a third rescue in a row, bringing aboard another 28 people, supported by Seabird 2‘s aerial reconnaissance. 88 people are disembarked in Bari 3 days later. Seabird spots a boat in distress and Mare Jonio responds, bringing aboard 69 people. Upon disembarkation in Trapani, the ship is placed in administrative detention for 20 days and faces a fine of up to 10,000 euros under the Piantedosi decree.
18 October In the middle of the night, Sea-Eye 4 successfully completes a rescue operation of 51 people in the Libyan SAR zone, a case that had been alerted by AlarmPhone. Assigned the port of Brindisi, the people are safely disembarked, after which the Sea-Eye 4 has to undergo a grueling 9-hour port state control.
21 October Alarm Phone is contacted about a ship with around 250 people in deteriorating conditions between the Maltese and Tunisian SAR region. The boat is spotted by Seabird and information is relayed to Nadir, which is in the vicinity. Nadir is able to stabilize the boat until the rescue is completed by the ITCG who disembark the people in Lampedusa. (8)
24 October Alarm Phone is contacted by a boat in distress with 29 people in the Libyan SAR zone. Seabird sights the ship and Ocean Viking makes its way to the boat. All 3 organizations coordinate the rescue together. Ravenna is assigned as the port of disembarkation, 1613 km and 6 days of navigation away. (9) In the morning, Nadir first finds an overcrowded wooden boat with 60 people. Everyone is safely transferred to the Italian CG. Later in the afternoon, Nadir finds and stabilizes an overcrowded wooden boat with 44 people who had fled Libya. Once again, all survivors are safely transferred to the Italian CG.
25 October Alarm Phone is alerted to a distress case and with the help of Seabird, Humanity 1 rescues the 8 people from an unseaworthy fiberglass boat.
26 October Alarm Phone is contacted by a group in dire need of rescue. Humanity 1 is assigned the distant port of Civitavecchia after rescuing the 50 people in rough seas in the middle of the night. The port is 800km away, extending the 3 days those rescued have already spent at sea. Waves of over 3m forces authorities to assign the closer port of Taranto. Ocean Viking evacuates 18 people stranded 3 days in rough seas who had been sighted by Seabird. Sea-Eye 4 was also on site searching for the distress vessel. Ocean Viking finds and rescues the people, then continues on to Ravenna for disembarkation.
27 October Authorities request Humanity 1 to stabilize 50 people needing rescue from an overcrowded sailing boat. Survivors are then successfully transferred to Italian CG. AlarmPhone receives a distress call from people in an unseaworthy rubber boat. By the time the Sea-Eye 4 arrived, the so-called Libyan Coast Guard was on site attempting a push back. 48 are saved by the NGO vessel and disembarked in Vibo Valentia.
28 October Nadir finds an overcrowded wooden boat with 48 people in the Maltese SAR zone. After many hours of waiting, authorities finally respond, and survivors are transferred to the Italian Coast Guards. AlarmPhone receives a distress call from 61 people in the Libyan SAR zone. Geo Barents responds and conducts the rescue. The distant port of Civitavecchia is assigned, where survivors are safely disembarked 3 days later.

ECHOES Issue 9, November 2023 – English