Before the Humanity 1 was leaving the port of Siracuse, the the crew was preparing intensively for the upcoming mission. Also on board the trainings continue until the crew arrived in the area of operation on 30 April. Since then they started to look for people in distress. 

Notification of distress case: spotted from the crew during lookout

Location: 111 kilometers from Tripoli

Condition of boat: unseaworthy fibreglass boat, no lifejackets, smell of fuel

Number of survivors: 9

Medical condition: Survivors are dehydrated, exhausted and seasick

Notification of distress case: spotted from the crew during the lookout

Location: Libyan search and rescue zone

Condition of boat: unseaworthy, overcrowded fibreglass boat without lifejackets

Number of survivors: 59

On the morning of 5 May, our rescue ship Humanity 1 reached the port of La Spezia in northern Italy. Disembarkation was completed in the evening – all survivors had disembarked. On 6 May, the crew on board set off again for the area of operation.

Report of boat in distress: distress call received by Alarm Phone

Location: 231.5 kilometres off Zuwara

Condition of the boat: overcrowded, unstable wooden boat without life jackets or rescue equipment, smell of fuel

Number of survivors: 125

Medical condition: Survivors are emotionally overwhelmed, disoriented and seasick

After days at sea, the survivors could finally go ashore in Ravenna, Italy.

Notification of distress cases: spotted by the crew during lookout

Location: 166 km in front of Libyan coast (Libyan search and rescue region)

Condition of boats: 2 unseaworthy boats without life-saving equipment, 2 unidentified boats on scene

Number of survivors: 104

Medical condition: The survivors were weak and cold, some were psychologically catatonic or had minor injuries. Some were suffering from seasickness and uncontrollable vomiting. One person had high fever.

Communication with authorities:  

At 08:24 CEST, the crew of Humanity 1 had visual on two boats and made a first assessment from bridge at 08:36 CEST identifying one boat with approx. 20 persons and another boat with approx. 3 persons. At 08:45 CEST, the captain of Humanity 1 informed the Libyan, Maltese and Italian rescue coordination centres via email about the potential distress cases and the intention to provide assistance in accordance with applicable maritime law. At 09:00 CEST, after the assessment by the speedboat of, the captain of Humanity 1 confirmed one distress case via email to the relevant rescue coordination centres: approx. 30 persons on board an unseaworthy boat, no lifesaving equipment, no lifejackets. Humanity 1 was initiating rescue. The other boat remained unidentified and was standing by a few nautical miles away.  

At 09:00 CEST, the speedboat of Humanity 1 spotted a third boat approx. 1,5 nautical miles away and coming closer towards Humanity 1. The speedboat of Humanity 1 approached the boat and confirmed a second distress case: approx. 30 persons on board an unseaworthy boat, no lifesaving equipment, no lifejackets. The speedboat of Humanity 1 then headed back to the first distress case to continue and complete the rescue. 

At 09:12 CEST, the crew spotted the unidentified boat that was standing by at the first distress case heading to the second distress case. A few minutes later, the crew spotted persons overboard next to the second distress case while the unidentified boat was close to it. The speedboat of Humanity 1 confirmed that there were 7 persons overboard and the crew recoverd all 7 people from the water. The boat in distress was moving towards Humanity 1. 

At 09:19 CEST, the crew of Humanity 1 had visual on a fourth boat in the distance. At the same time, the crew on deck Humanity 1 spotted one person falling overboard of the second distress case which was close to the aft of Humanity 1. The crew recovers the person from the water. Two more persons were reported overboard close to the aft of Humanity 1. Both persons were recovered by the crew.

At 09:23 CEST, the second distress case followed an erratic course and ended up alongside Humanity 1. People started climbing up Humanity 1. 

At 09:30 CEST, the captain of Humanity 1 informed the Libyan, Maltese and Italian rescue coordination centres via email confirming the second distress case, informing about rendering assistance to the persons in distress. 

A few minutes later, almost all persons from the first distress case had been embarked on board Humanity 1. Four masked persons refused assistance. At 09:37 CEST, 2 masked persons embarked from the first distress case to the boat of the second distress case which was empty at that point. 

At 09:40 CEST, all persons of the second distress case were embarked on board Humanity 1. 

The speedboats of Humanity 1 remained in the water due to the ongoing assessment from the bridge regarding the spotted fourth boat, but Humanity 1 lost visual of the boat. After having visual on the boat again at 09:58 CEST the speedboat of Humanity 1 was shortly proceeding in the direction of the unidentified boat. At 10:08 CEST, the speedboat of Humanity 1 confirmed that the boat was changing course and was full speed heading away from Humanity 1.  

At 10:19 CEST, both speedboats of Humanity 1 were back onboard Humanity 1. 

At 10:33 CEST, the captain of Humanity 1 informed the Libyan, Maltese and Italian rescue coordination centres that the rescue of 2 boats in distress had been completed and requested a place of safety for the 104 survivors on board. 

At 14:57 CEST, the Italian rescue coordination centre assigned Humanity 1 Bari as a place of safety for the disembarkation of the survivors – about 1.100 km from the place of rescue. 

During the night, one survivor had to be evacuated for medical reasons and taken to the hospital.

Our search and rescue ship Humanity 1 reached the port of Bari in south-east Italy this morning. The crew is relieved that all those rescued can finally set foot on safe ground.