An Amazing True Story
Some stories just take your breath away and this one is truly astonishing.
An Ethiopian man living in London last week received a phone call via a GSM/Satellite phone from a distant relative who was on board a large Zodiac inflatable some 64 miles off the coast of Libya.
On board the inflatable were some 59 people comprising 15 females, of which 4 were pregnant, 7 children and 37 men.
They had not been fed or given any water for 3 days and had been dumped into this leaky inflatable by a commercial vessel at the dead of night after 2 days at sea closeted in a cramped storeroom.
They had been told they were in Italian waters, close to Lampedusa, a Sicilian island in the Mediterranean but with no engine their situation was desperate.
The Ethiopian rang the Coastguard in London who referred the matter to Falmouth MRCC at Pendennis.
Falmouth Operations room rang the inflatable and spoke to English speaking female on board who outlined their problems.
The inflatable was in Libyan waters but despite British Diplomatic pressure activated by Falmouth MRCC the Libyan search and rescue made no effort to help.
Other governments in the area were also reluctant to get involved. The Italian navy was already dealing with 2 similar incidents involving 1000 such refugees or illegal immigrants.
There were no US or UK military vessels within 150 miles of the raft’s known location.
Eventually some 17 hours after receiving this distress call Falmouth MRCC was able to locate a Tunisian Naval Supply Vessel to do the humanitarian duty and go and rescue these poor souls.
Chatting to Falmouth MRCC their view is to forget the politics of the situation and just deal with the crisis.
It is a sobering thought that they estimate that around 20,000 people drowned last year in the Mediterranean and Atlantic as a result of attempting to leave Africa and get to Europe.
We live in strange times.
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