Escorted by a patrol boat of the Captaincy, the “Life Support”, an NGO ship with 142 migrants on board, entered the port of Livorno, to dock at quay 75 where the disembarkation operations will begin. Around 5.50 am the boat, already intercepted by a naval vehicle of the Guardia di Finanza, was 3 miles from the Livorno port of call and had received the communication that the pilots of the port would not come on board before 6.30 am to assist the commander in the operations of docking which should take place shortly.
«There are 142 on board, shipwrecked including many unaccompanied minors and a pregnant woman. They were rescued in two operations off the coast of Malta», said Rossella Miccio, president of Emergency who had just arrived in Livorno. «They are people – she added – who flee from violence, devastation and places of war, we are happy that they finally touch the ground. The port of Livorno is not close, but the important thing is that we managed to get them to safety. This is the first mission in which an Emergency ship docks in an Italian port».