On April 4th, 2024 at 12.54 UTC in position 38° 24' N and 11° 15' E, the officer on duty on the Spanaco Loyalty spotted an approximately 6m long sport boat with 5 people gesticulating wildly and calling for help about 500m away.
The captain of the Spanaco Loyalty stopped his ship and informed the HLB DPA and the nearest MRCC which was Palermo in Italy.
The captain received the order from the HLB DPA to stay within close vicinity of the boat seeking help and to wait for the instructions from the MRCC.
Since the weather conditions were very good at the time and the small boat was in a seaworthy condition, there was no urgency to rescue people immediately.
A short time later, our Spanaco Loyalty received the order from MRCC Palermo to take the people seeking help on board and proceed towards Gagliary in Sardinia. The Italian Coast Guard would then take over the people there.
The captain immediately informed the DPA. The DPA gave the captain the order to exercise extreme caution when taking the people from the small boat because the origin and reason for the people seeking help was still unknown at the time of approach.
When first contacted, the people seeking help reported an engine damage and that they had been drifting around for 7 days.
All 5 people were taken one by one on board the MV Spanaco Loyalty, searched for weapons and drugs and after the ship's management confirmed that the 5 people did not pose any danger, they were all placed in a prepared cabin.
The Spanaco Loyalty then proceeded at full speed to Gagliary Road where the ship arrived the next morning. Here everyone was then handed over to the coast guard.
Conclusion:
Rescuing people from distress or similar misfortunes at sea should always be and remain a matter of course. But here too, self-protection always comes before rescue. An injured or dead rescuer is of no use to anyone.
Particular caution should be observed in North African waters and in the sea area between North Africa and Italy.
We don't know whether the people we rescued are refugees or pleasure boat drivers who got into this emergency situation due to a technical defect.
We would like to thank our captain and the entire Spanaco Loyalty crew that the 5 young people were able to reach the mainland safely.