Libyan vessel endangers refugee rescuers in international waters

Italy orders rescue ships Life Support and Aita Mari to sail to distant ports after saving over 180 people A LIBYAN vessel menaced a refugee rescue ship operating in the central Mediterranean earlier this week, an Italian charity revealed today. Emergency made the announcement in a press release today after the crew of their rescue

EU-supported Libyan coastguard threatens to shoot at refugee rescuers

Despite threats NGO ship and reconnaissance plane work together to save the lives of 69 people in the central Mediterranean THE EU-supported Libyan coastguard threatened to shoot at rescue workers in the central Mediterranean today after they witnessed a refugee interception. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) shared video footage from its rescue ship, the Geo Barents,

Libyan Coastguards intercept 80 refugees after harassing rescuers for days

RESCUERS witnessed the EU-supported Libyan Coastguards snatch around 80 refugees in the central Mediterranean today, and force them back to Libya. The rescue ships Louise Michel and Humanity 1 saved the lives of over 100 people from a severely overcrowded rubber boat in international waters around 7am local time this morning. The crews worked together

Refugees trapped at Poland-Belarus border are freezing, starving and sick, some are being sexually abused by border guards, activists say

Meanwhile, rescues resume in the Mediterranean despite Libyan Coastguard’s efforts to stop them PEOPLE trapped at the Poland-Belarus border are suffering from malnutrition, dehydration, hypothermia, frost bite and worse, some are even being sexually abused by border guards on both sides, activists warned today. Grupa Granica, a Polish human rights and medical aid group, and

Malta abandons 80 people in distress in its search-and-rescue area

The island nation orders merchant vessel not to help them. Meanwhile, over 700 rescued refugees on two NGO ships wait for land MALTA has abandoned about 60 to 80 people stranded within in its Mediterranean search-and-rescue (SAR) area today and ordered a merchant vessel not to help them, activists have warned. Alarm Phone, an activist

A day for ‘sadness and rage’ as pregnant woman dies and 22 others go missing at Europe’s deadly Mediterranean border

MSF’s Geo Barents rescue ship pulls 71 people from shipwreck RESCUERS reacted with “sadness and rage” today following news of the death of a pregnant woman and 22 others in the central Mediterranean yesterday. The Geo Barents rescue ship came upon a sinking rubber boat in the evening after her crew was alerted to a

Activists save 64 refugees, a day after preventing the Libyan coastguard from intercepting 75 others

SOS Mediterranee’s Ocean Viking rescue ship now carries almost 300 survivors ACTIVISTS saved the lives of another 64 people in the central Mediterranean today, a day after they prevented the EU-supported Libyan coastguards from intercepting over 70 refugees. Today’s rescue was carried out in a joint operation by the Astral, Nadir and Imara monitoring ships

131 refugee lives saved as further evidence of Mediterranean pushbacks emerge

Meanwhile, in Britain, campaigners launch legal challenge against government’s ‘medieval-style Rwanda banishment’ plans ACTIVIST rescuers saved a further 131 people in the central Mediterranean today, as more signs of illegal refugee pushbacks were discovered. The activist-run Ocean Viking rescue ship carried out what it described as a difficult operation in three-metre high waves in the

Activist-rescuers save the lives of 171 refugees in central Mediterranean

Meanwhile, 17 die in shipwreck off Tunisia RESCUERS have prevented 171 refugees from drowning in the central Mediterranean this weekend. European charity SOS Mediterranee announced this afternoon that the crew aboard its rescue ship Ocean Viking had picked up 70 people from a deflating rubber boat in international waters off Libya. “A Libyan patrol vessel

‘I knew we wouldn’t be able to save them all’

Sea-Watch crew member BREN DAN gives a first-hand account of pulling desperate, drowning people out of the Mediterranean I’VE BEEN away with Sea-Watch for the last few weeks. I want to share what happened to one of the boats we went to rescue.  It was the fourth of the five boats we rescued. A sinking