Life Support

Training of the SAR team of the EMERGENCY Life Support ship. Anabel Montes Mier, head of mission.

Training on board the RHIB 1 of the EMERGENCY SAR Life Support vessel. Ambrogio Beccaria, ocean navigator and rescuer.

Rescue of 37 shipwrecked people by the EMERGENCY SAR Life Support vessel in international waters of the Maltese SAR zone.

Rescue of 28 shipwrecked people by the EMERGENCY's SAR Life Support vessel in international waters of the Maltese SAR zone.

Rescue of 28 shipwrecked people by the EMERGENCY's SAR Life Support ship in international waters in the Maltese SAR zone. The second of the 23rd mission. In the foreground Sauro Forni, nurse.

Some of the 65 shipwrecked people rescued by the EMERGENCY SAR Life Support ship in its 23rd mission. This Egyptian boy is 17 years old and was traveling unaccompanied. He had seizures that seemed epileptic. He is under sedation, in the infirmary, awaiting medical evacuation. The Life Support approached the coast of Roccella Ionica where it was reached by the Coast Guard. The boy will be admitted to the hospital in Locri.

On board the EMERGENCY SAR Life Support ship, Commander Laura Pinasco announces to the 65 survivors the assigned POS: the port of Ortona. On her left, cultural mediator Mariam Bouteraa and on her right, Dr. Eleonora Padua.

Some of the 65 castaways rescued by the EMERGENCY's SAR Life Support vessel in its 23rd mission.

Lunch distribution to the 65 survivors aboard the EMERGENCY SAR Life Support ship. Menu of the day: rice with almonds and lentil soup. On duty are logistician Paula Virallonga, Dr. Paola Tagliabue and cultural mediator Mariam Bouteraa.

Jonathan Nanì La Terra, SAR team leader and Anabel Montes Mier, head of mission, on the bridge of the EMERGENCY SAR Life Support vessel, during the docking maneuver in the port of Ortona.

The disembarkation of 64 survivors (a medical evacuation was carried out for an unaccompanied minor) from the EMERGENCY SAR Life Support ship in the port of Ortona. Jad, 3, was adrift on a dinghy with a broken engine, together with his mother, 41, two teenage siblings, and 24 others.

Ambrogio Beccaria, ocean navigator and rescuer, in a moment of relaxation before the start of the 23rd mission of the EMERGENCY SAR Life Support ship. Port of Syracuse.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), over 31,000 people have died or disappeared in the Central Mediterranean since 2014. As reported by Amnesty International, the EU supports Libyan coastguard efforts to intercept and forcibly return thousands of people attempting the crossing; upon returning to Libya, they face human rights abuses such as torture, forced labour and sexual violence. In 2023, Italy passed the Piantedosi law that forces NGOs to proceed without delay to the assigned port, preventing or limiting multiple rescues to the maximum. Together with the practice of assigning distant ports it distances NGO ships from rescue waters, causing more victims and wasting resources and money. This law violates a series of European and international norms, in addition to the Navigation Code and the Constitution.The EMERGENCY's SAR (search and rescue) vessel Life Support since her first mission in December 2022 has saved more than 2.000 lives in the deadliest route in the world. On the her left side, a phrase by Gino Strada: "The rights of men must belong to all men, to all, otherwise call them privileges".

This is the story of her 23rd mission, in August 2024.

Life Support

Laura Salvinelli