The Last Rescue

On June 6, 2018, the MRCC Rome contacted the SeaEye ship with the mission to seek a rubber boat in distress. The search trip took several hours but finally, the crew found 120 people crowding on a rubber boat, 35 NM from the Libyan coast. The sea was restless and people started to panic as the skipper decided to evacuate the boat quickly to protect the lives of the boat occupants. After all, people are provided with life jackets, the helpers took people on board. The rescued report that one person had fallen out of the boat and drowned. An attempt to hand over the survivors to failure due to the wind of the 7 Beaufort scale that continues for the next 70h. During this time Malta and Italy were disputing which country shall admit the survivors. After a rescue mission in extreme conditions, the ship came to the coast of Sicily and it turned out to be the last group of refugees admitted by Italy. Prime Minister Matteo Salvini closed the Italian ports for the S&R rescue units and urged the Dutch Ministry of Transport to deny the Dutch flag to SeaEye ships. The request was approved.