Currently at the Grand Harbour, under COVID-19 Quarantine there is the 18 metre long German sailing yacht NADIR anchored in Bighi. She entered Grand Harbour on Friday 18th June at 1736 hrs and proceeded to Bighi Bay on anchors as instructed by Valletta VTS after she dropped anchors close to the Tank Cleaning Farm ( Radio officer was very noisy, with no patience)
This was after last Wednesday 16th June , the Resqship NGO sailing yacht NADIR rescued 86 souls among them children and 3 pregnant woman found drifting on a wooden boat which according to the organization they were found within Malta’s SAR Zone. Then she sailed for the Italian port of Lampedusa, where the illegal immigrants were to be handed over to the Italian coast guard according to a spokesperson for the organization Resqship. Guardia Costiera CP 306 (that in 2017 she was transferred from Bari) was involved in the transfer
NADIR had spotted the small wooden boat carrying dozens of people at noon on Wednesday. Immediately after sighting the boat, she contacted the RCC Malta and stated that due to her size she was able to take only half of the group on board. The rest were given lifejackets and remained in their wooden boat which was towed. At least one person needed medical treatment from the crew after they temporarily lost consciousness. According to Resqship, the migrants had been on the water for 48 hours and had been drifting after their engine failed.
Libyan Coast Guard was in the area but the NGO organization refused to hand them over the souls to be pushed back to Libya.
Resqship is a privately-funded organization based in Germany. In 2020, along with the humanitarian rescue groups Mare Liberum and Mission Lifeline, it was unable to operate in the Mediterranean because of tougher safety requirements for boats involved in sea rescues. Resqship says that in 2019, her 14 metre sailing yacht JOSEFA conducted nine rescue missions in waters between Malta and Libya.
The new marine asset NADIR which replaces JOSEFA , had set out on her first observation mission to the central Mediterranean on Monday and had only been in the area for 24 hours when she conducted a rescue.
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Published – Monday 21st June, 2021.
