After a Mayday Relay reached us yesterday morning, we set off in search of the boat in distress. Shortly afterwards, the crew of the Humanitarian Pilots Initiative sighted the distressed vessel with their new Seabird 3 aircraft: a blue and black fiberglass boat with 27 people on board.
In the early afternoon, we were able to find the boat thanks to the support from the air. The two outboard engines of the migrant vessel had failed and it was drifting in the increasing waves. The people on board were desperately waiting for help without life jackets or life-saving equipment.
We used our dinghy to distribute life jackets to all 27 people as quickly as possible – no easy task in the high waves. After that, our dinghy team brought all the people safely on board the Trotamar III.
With winds of up to 30 knots and waves 2 to 3 meters high the crew of the Trotamar III finally set course for Lampedusa. Crew and people on the move endured an exhausting crossing until the Trotamar III was finally able to moor in Lampedusa in the early hours of the morning and everybody was able to set foot safely on European soil.