The 76 people rescued in international waters on the night of 11 August by the NGO EMERGENCY’s ship Life Support have disembarked in Naples, Italy, according to EMERGENCY.
Among them were seven women and 24 children, including 12 unaccompanied and a seven-month-old baby, the NGO said in a statement on Monday.
“They had departed from the Libyan coast in an unstable wooden boat,” explains Carlo Maisano, Life Support‘s Head of Mission. “They had been at sea for almost 20 hours when rescue operations began. The engine had failed and the boat had been adrift for five hours.”
The 12-meter wooden boat was first reported in distress by Sea Watch’s Seabird 2, then by Italy’s Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) and finally via VHF on Channel 16, said the statement.
The rescue was coordinated by the Italian MRCC, and conducted in the Maltese Search and Rescue Zone, it added.
On board were 76 people mainly from Egypt and Syria, but also Ethiopia and Eritrea, the statement pointed out.