The first privately-funded operation to rescue boat immigrants in the Mediterranean launched Monday, as a ship owned by an Italian-American couple set off from Malta for a 60-day mission to scour the sea for people in distress. The 40-foot-long Phoenix I, equipped with drones to spot migrants in distress, set sail after a series of shipwrecks this weekend left at least 200 people dead.
The Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) is the brainchild of Italian Regina Catrambone and her American husband Christopher. "We have had numerous struggles to get this project off the ground, but just over a year after conceiving the project, here we are setting off on our first operation," Regina Catrambone told journalists gathered for the launch.
The crew includes rescue workers and paramedics and the vessel is equipped with rigid-hull dinghies as well as two drones with infrared technology which can spot boats in the dark through heat radiation. The drones will then feed information to rescue coordination centres in Malta and Italy. "The drones stay up in the air six hours at a time, covering a radius of more than 100 kilometres. They will locate vessels in distress and relay information through in-built cameras," said Cristopher Catrambone.
The ship also carries life jackets, food, water and first aid for migrants rescued. Many of the boats which attempt the crossing from North Africa are hugely overcrowded and drift for days at sea, with serious risks of dehydration for those on board. The Catrambones said they hoped in particular to be able to help some of the minors who attempt the crossing unaccompanied and are vulnerable to traffickers. Regina Catrambone said she feared the number of boats attempting the crossing would increase despite the latest tragedies, because of the dire situations in Syria, Iraq and Gaza, as well as the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.