During the night between Thursday 8 and Friday 9 August, EMERGENCY's search and rescue vessel Life Support rescued 37 people who were on board a boat in distress in international waters in the Maltese SAR zone.

The case was reported by Alarm Phone at around 22:30 on 8 August and the sighting of the small, overcrowded fibreglass boat occurred shortly after midnight on 9 August. The rescue ended with the safe transfer of the 37 shipwrecked people, all men and including one unaccompanied minor, aboard EMERGENCY's ship at around 01:30.

"The case of the boat in distress was reported to us by Alarm Phone by e-mail," explains Jonathan Naní la Terra, SAR Team Leader on board Life Support. "So we immediately set out to look for it until we found it: the small fibreglass boat, about 9 metres long, had engines that didn't work, the 37 people on board were without life jackets, had no water and were exhausted. Fortunately, the weather conditions were favourable and also thanks to the promptness of our rescue team, the intervention took place quickly and we got everyone safely on board Life Support".

The 37 people rescued by Life Support reported that they left at 22:00 on 7 August from Sirte, Libya, and had been without water for over a day. They come from Egypt, Eritrea, Syria and Bangladesh, countries affected by war, violence, and political and economic insecurity.

Ocean navigator Ambrogio Beccaria, who is on board Life Support as a rescuer for this mission, recounts: "I have only been on board for three days and about 24 hours after leaving Syracuse we carried out the first rescue operation. I understood why we trained so hard, because we got the 37 people on board in a very short time and in total safety."

"In the last regatta I took part in, there were three shipwrecked people and it already seemed like a lot to me, but they were Europeans and after an experience like this you realise how much of a privilege a passport can be. Here, there are an unknown number of people risking their lives at sea. There are 37 people on board, but we know there are other boats that need help."

"The shipwrecked people are all tired from the journey: they had been at sea for two days," explains Sauro Forni, a nurse and Life Support's clinical activities manager. "Together with the doctor we are examining everyone, the people rescued are dehydrated, some have a fever, and one young man had a major trauma during embarkation that we are managing as best we can and which is not worrying. We will continue to monitor their health conditions during navigation".

After completing the rescue and informing the relevant authorities, the Italian MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre) assigned Ortona as the Place of Safety and port of disembarkation. Now, Life Support is on its way to another reported case of a vessel in distress.