Rescue off Tripoli on Christmas Day
(B2) European ships rescued several ships on Christmas Day about 40 km off the Libyan coast, several statements from the Spanish and German navies reported reaching B2. " Good weather conditions off the coast of Libya have resulted in a heavy presence of immigrant boats in the region » say the sailors.
In the morning, a Luxembourg maritime patrol plane (taking part in the European operation EUNAVFOR Med/Sophia) thus identified a total of six boats with numerous immigrants on board: four of them west of Tripoli — three pneumatic and one wooden —, and two to the east. The rescue coordination center (Italian) asked the nearest ships to come to the rescue. The German Navy support ship 'Berlin' (A-1411) was thus dispatched, to the rescue of the boats located to the west. The boats were scattered over the area, other means were dispatched to the area: the Spanish frigate Canarias (F-86), the Italian patrol boat Comandante Cigala Fulgosi and the Maltese tanker Silent.
It was time... The wooden ship, overloaded with 174 people on board, was beginning to take on water, with a leak in the boat threatening its buoyancy. The Spanish sailors quickly began transshipping passengers, first women and children. Around 76 have already been supported on the Canary Islands when the Berlin arrived in the area to complete the operation. In all, 539 people were rescued during this operation: 505 men, 30 women and 4 children. They were transferred to Saturday morning (December 26), on the Norwegian supply ship Siem Pilot which is part of the operation Triton conducted under the aegis of the Frontex agency. The 4 boats, once empty, were destroyed, because " presenting an obstacle to navigation “says the Bundeswehr.
On Christmas Eve, the Berlin had already recovered 121 people (115 men, 3 women and 3 children). A boat drifting about 50 kilometers from the Libyan coast was spotted around 8 a.m. by the Spanish P3 Orion maritime patrol plane. The rescued people were handed over, a little later, around 14:50 p.m. to the Italian coastguard vessel Courses and landed in the port of Reggio di Calabria. Once they were taken to safety, the canoe carrying them was sunk.
Since May 7, 2015, and the start of their involvement in rescue operations in the Mediterranean, first as a reinforcement for the Frontex operation and then within EUNAVFOR Med, German navy ships have rescued 10.528 people, indicates the Bundeswehr.
(NGV)
