Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

LightNews

RESQSHIP

@resqship.bsky.social

380 followers 110 following 110 posts

Present on the Mediterranean. Search and Rescue. #Nadir #ProtectPeopleNotBorders

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · 1d

The evacuated people had departed from Libya two days earlier. After being assigned Lampedusa as Port of Safety, NADIR reached the island around midnight. All 56 survivors disembarked safely.

📷 Stefania Olivotto | RESQSHIP

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · 1d

After distributing life vests, our crew brought everyone safely aboard NADIR and provided first aid and drinking water. Many survivors were severely dehydrated and exhausted after spending days exposed to the elements.

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · 1d

On Sunday at noon, our crew spotted 56 people, including several minors, crowded onto a rubber boat that was taking on water. Those on board reported that the situation was rapidly worsening and becoming life-threatening as the waves and panic increased.

survivors aboard NADIR after evacuation holding tight to ship and holding hands

Reposted by RESQSHIP

Sea-Watch (international) @en.sea-watch.org · 1d

🚨Breaking: our fears became true. Yesterday, three people were shot by Libyan militias, one of them is in a coma. The so-called Libyan coastguard is financed and trained by the EU. We hope strongly that everyone will survive. More info:

After Libyan gunfire, 140 people disembark in Pozzallo: one person is critically injured, two others seriously wounded

mediterranearescue.org

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · 6d

The two vessels monitored the situation until the Italian Coast Guard arrived and evacuated all people on board and brought them to Lampedusa, where they disembarked safely in the early morning hours.
📷 Stefania Olivotto | RESQSHIP

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · 6d

Our crew again stabilised the situation, but due to the high number of people and difficult sea conditions, it was impossible to properly assess everyone’s medical condition. According to the survivors, one person is missing.

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · 6d

Together with the help of merchant vessel IVY 1, which gave shelter to wind and 2m swell, our crew stabilised the situation, informed the responsible authorities and distributed life vests. When IVY 1 and NADIR further accompanied the survivors, they met 100 more people on a second boat in distress.

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · 6d

The survivors were heavily affected by the strong waves and many people stayed under deck – an extremely dangerous situation due to poor air circulation and toxic chemical fumes.

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · 6d

Last night, 175 people on two boats were supported by NADIR with help of Merchant vessel IVY1. Our crew responded to a distress case alerted to by @alarmphone.bsky.social and soon encountered 75 people on an overcrowded wooden double decker who had departed from Libya 3 days earlier.

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · 8d

After handing in the report on Sunday in Lampedusa, NADIR sailed to a fourth distress case relayed by Seabird 3. In the dark, the crew found 77 people. Two went overboard but were recovered by our tender. Later, all were evacuated by the Coast Guard.

📷 Stefania Olivotto | RESQSHIP

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · 8d

While en route to submit a report, Sparrow2 reported another distress case near NADIR. Our crew searched all night and early morning, finding an empty, unmarked boat. We are worried. If drowned or intercepted – the fate of those on board remains unknown.

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · 8d

Shortly thereafter, @sea-watch.org Seabird3 reported a distress case nearby: around 88 people on a wooden boat. Our crew found them too, and they were brought to Lampedusa by the coast guard before the weather worsened on Sunday.

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · 8d

NADIR assisted 243 people over the weekend and found a fourth boat empty.

On Saturday at noon, our crew spotted 78 people on an unseaworthy wooden boat. After stabilising the situation, the survivors were evacuated by the Italian coastguard.

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · 21d

📸 Pietro Bertora | RESQSHIP

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · 21d

At sunset, we faced the silence of injustice. The abandoned boat was a manifest symptom of Europe’s border policies outsourced to militias. These are not rescues but forced returns, leaving rights shattered at sea and lives erased without accountability.

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · 21d

Later, our crew found the very same rubber boat: empty, with belongings left behind. Those crossing #CentralMed to seek safety had been forced back by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard, in yet another illegal pullback trampling on human rights by bringing people back to Libya.

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · 21d

❕Empty boats, shattered rights❕

On monday, following a Mayday Relay from EAGLE2, reporting 50 people on an overcrowded boat, NADIR headed south to support. Upon arrival, our crew observed a high-speed vessel from the so-called Libyan Coast Guard. Radar showed it stop briefly before turning east.

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · 27d

📷 Pietro Bertora | RESQSHIP

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · 27d

Our crew de-escalated the situation calmly until, after 20 min, the vessel finally turned away. While we are relieved all are safe, we condemn this harassment. EU states fund militias that violate International Law daily. We demand an end to all collaboration with the so-called Libyan coastguard!

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · 27d

Due to the dangerously lowered freeboard, our crew decided to evacuate everyone to the NADIR. Shortly afterwards, the radar showed a fast-approaching vessel without navigation lights. The militia boat came within 20 metres of our stern, issuing aggressive radio orders to “Stop the vessel!”

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · 27d

Harassment at sea following an evacuation of 44 people‼️
On Monday evening, our crew evacuated 44 people from an overcrowded rubber boat in distress. Amongst them were eight minors. The survivors had no life-saving equipment, the engine was broken, and the boat had already taken on water.

survivors from a rubber boat in distress after having been evacuated aboard NADIR. In the morning hours they spot the island of Lampedusa, where only a couple of hours later they would disembark safely.

Survivors on an unseaworthy rubber boat with a broken engine after the first contact with the NADIR tender crew. The crew distributed life-saving equipment and drinking water. Only shortly after everybody was evacuated aboard NADIR as the freeboard of the rubber boat was dangerously low.

After the evacuation: helmets resting in the lower deck. In the background: the SAR coordinator and co-skipper.

Disembarkation on the island of Lampedusa. Survivors safely go on land, helped by the RESQSHIP crew. In the background authorities wait on the pier.

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · Aug 26

Although the Coast Guard took charge, NADIR must still sail to Lampedusa to file a special report. This is an intentional obstruction. States and the EU should uphold their duty to rescue at sea, not outsource it to NGOs and then hinder them with needless bureaucracy. This practice must end.

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · Aug 26

This morning, NADIR overheard a Mayday Relay from a fishing vessel: 130 people on a wooden boat. Alongside @openarmsfund.bsky.social’ ASTRAL, NADIR headed to the scene. ASTRAL notified about another case: 60 people on a rubber boat. We gave life vests, but the Italian Coast Guard soon evacuated all.

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · Aug 24

Their deaths were preventable. Safe passage is urgently needed to end the dying in the Mediterranean. We will not stop saying it, because no one should be forced to risk their lives at sea in search of safety.

Rest in Power 🖤

Commemorational post cites crew member Barbara Sartore (communications coordinator aboard NADIR): "While we were evacuating the people one by one from the rubber boat onto the NADIR, I suddenly heard screams and someone pointed to the water inside the boat. It became clear that there were bodies underneath the surface. The boat was dangerously overcrowded, it was pitch-dark, water was flooding in, people were panicking. In that chaos, it was impossible to see that the three sisters, sitting deep inside the boat, had already drowned. When the survivors realized, it was sheer horror."

RESQSHIP @resqship.bsky.social · Aug 24

Today, we mourn three young sisters, aged 9, 11, and 17, who lost their lives far too soon, drowned Friday night in a flooded, overcrowded boat. Their mother, brother, aunt, and friends survived, but now face the unbearable grief of losing them in such a senseless way. Our thoughts are with them.

Commemorational post says: We mourn the unbearable death of three sisters who drowned inside a flooded runner boat. Their Lives were taken far too soon. 22nd of August.