After a week of preparation and crew training, the sailboat SAFIRA left the port of Lampedusa at 12:30 today for the 20th MEDITERRANEA Saving Humans mission.

In the next few days, our ship Mare Jonio - after having been illegally detained for the third time under the Piantedosi Decree Law following the rescue of 83 people last October - will have to go to the shipyard for the 'dry-dock' inspection required every three years by the Italian Naval Register (RINA) and will therefore not be able to operate for some time.

But the dramatic situation along the migratory routes of the central Mediterranean, with the latest tragic shipwrecks off the coasts of Tunisia and Libya, the violent rejection of these countries and the risk that the Italian government will resume interception and deportation operations to Albania,' says Laura Marmorale, president of MEDITERRANEA Saving Humans, 'requires us to return to the sea with a mission of observation and monitoring and, if necessary, search, assistance and rescue, together with the other assets of the civil fleet.

We are doing this thanks to the collaboration of the Safira Association of Trapani, which has put at Mediterranea's disposal the sailing boat SAFIRA, flying the Italian flag, and its captain: 'from today it will patrol the international waters south of the island of Lampedusa for a week. - Danny Castiglione, mission leader on board, explains- Over the last few weeks we have been preparing the boat, technically equipping it with all the necessary equipment and taking on board a crew of Mediterranea activists, including a full team of rescuers, medics and paramedics.

We are ready to intervene'.

To those who want to make 'normal and acceptable' in our sea a daily reality, made up of systematic violations of the law of the sea and the fundamental rights of the people, through the omission of rescues, arrests and deportations, producing only suffering and death,' concludes Laura Marmorale, 'we reply that once again we will not turn away and we will continue to be where we need to be and act.

Lampedusa, 26th November 2024