We sailed to the SAR area and took advantage of this time to do the drills that could not be done in port, such as launching and recovering the two RHIBs – Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats we use for the rescue – from the moving ship. As soon as we got within radio range, Channel 16 began to give us the dimension of the crisis that was unfolding at sea: one distress call after another, a continuous mayday relay from boats and aircraft, from the authorities and the civil fleet.
In the evening we spotted a light in the dark and at around 9 p.m. We launched our RHIBs into the water. We proceeded to rescue an iron boat with 49 people on board – exhausted from three days at sea. As soon as they were safe on the ResQ People, the second rescue began: another iron boat appeared in the darkness with 48 people on board, they were screaming in despair because their boat was sinking fast. We started the stabilization maneuvers and bought as much time as we could, but the boat was already full of water and they all went overboard. We rescued and hoisted 47 people into the RHIBs. Unfortunately, we recovered the lifeless body of a woman. She wanted to take her granddaughter to Europe. She didn’t make it, but the little girl did: she is safe on the deck of the ResQ People.
Sailing North, at dawn we heard a fishing vessel calling Lampedusa radio to report a Mayday and shortly afterwards we spotted the scene with our binoculars: it was an overloaded wooden boat. We informed the authorities, who urged us to contact the Coast Guard heading there. We radio them and follow their directions: we remained on the scene, monitoring the distress case until their arrival shortly thereafter. Just one minute for greetings and thanks – with arms rising from the decks and more formal words over the radio – and we resumed our navigation while the Coast Guard CP proceeded to rescue the wooden boat.
The International Conventions say that a rescue ends only with the disembarkation in Place of safety, a safe port. We docked at the port of Trapani and began all the procedures to disembark the 96 people who were on board. Then handshakes, hugs and a few tears as one by one begin to disembark from the gangway. At 6:12 p.m., the last of the survivors who were on board the ResQ People set foot on the dock in Trapani: we can consider the rescue concluded.
The survivors disembarked, but our job is not over yet. We need to clean the ship, check everything that was consumed, got damaged or lost, debrief with the crew and organize the arrival of the new volunteers, go back to inventories, stockings and trainings…everything that’s needed to sail out again.
Help us saving people: support the ship with a donation. And welcome on board.