There is a new ship, called “Life support”, it is docked in the port of Genoa and in the autumn it will set sail for the first mission in the central Mediterranean for the search and rescue activities of migrants who cross the sea risking their lives. The ship is marked Emergency, “it was a project wanted by Gino Strada“, he stressed Pietro Parrino, director of the Field operations department of the humanitarian association. “Rescuing lives at sea is a duty like the commitment to save the victims of war and poverty”, he added, announcing the purchase of the boat at the Emergency Festival in Reggio Emilia.
“One year after the loss of Gino, we are ready to give life to this new project. We do it, first of all, because it is what we have always done: treating those in need, those in the wrong place, not by choice “, explained Parrino.
On the sides of the ship were painted the words of Strada: “Rights must belong to everyone, otherwise call them privileges”. Also her daughter, Cecilia, has long been involved in rescues at sea with another organization and another ship: ResQ-People saving people. “It seems to us the best way to continue to represent a thought, which has become a common good, of an association that thinks we should do what is right to do, without wondering if it is possible but simply by starting to do it”, added Parrino. “The search and rescue activity at sea by NGOs is often a divisive topic but saving lives cannot be divisive, ever. This is our starting point, once again,” he said.
Since 2014, according to the International Organization for Migration, more than 19,000 migrants have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean Sea. There were more than 1,100 in 2022 alone, in the absence of a coordinated rescue operation at European level.
The “Life Support” is an offshore vessel built twenty years ago in Norway: it has a length of 51.3 meters, a width of 12 meters and weighs 1,346 tons. The ship can accommodate up to 175 people, in addition to the crew. The selections for the staff are still in progress, including the coordinator of the SAR mission, a doctor, nurses, mediators, rescuers and a logistician, in addition to the ten people who make up the ship’s crew.
There will be two working areas on the ship, the crew area and the reception area. In the work area, Emergency has positioned rescue vehicles, has adapted the emergency equipment for the rescue service and removed the equipment in use not necessary for the SAR activities to create warehouses. The second area was designed from scratch by Emergency as a shelter and reception area for rescued people: a bridge of about 250 square meters completely covered, the main deck, where a medical clinic, toilets, beds have been set up. and the sessions. From the main deck you have access to the boat deck, that is the open-air reception area which covers approximately 90 square meters and is equipped with benches sheltered by a shading cloth. This is the area where rescued people will be boarded after being rescued. An important area for healthcare personnel because it will allow to assess the status of people with the same principle followed within hospitals: triage. Based on the outcome of the triage, people will be assigned a code according to which they will be accompanied to the clinic, on the main deck, for observation, on the nearby benches or in the open reception area.
“We are convinced that it is necessary to provide legal and safe access channels for people who have to leave their countries, so that they are not forced to risk their lives to get to Europe – they explain from the organization – Until Italy and Europe will not give an answer, Emergency will continue to be with those who save, welcome and do not turn away “.
Emergency has already participated in search and rescue activities in the Mediterranean Sea: in 2016 it provided medical assistance, cultural mediation and all post-rescue assistance on the Topaz responder ship of the Moas association; in 2019 you started collaborating with the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms, aboard the ship of the same name, for SAR missions in the central Mediterranean.