At 6 am this morning, the crew of the Trotamar III received an unusual call via radio: the managers of the Miskar oil platform informed us that 53 people on the move had taken refuge on one of their supply ships near the platform. The people approached the ship in a rubber boat and climbed aboard at around 5 am this morning.

The crew of the Trotamar III has been on site since early this morning and has repeatedly offered to take the people on board to the responsible authorities. However, we have not yet received permission to do so from neither the Tunisian authorities nor the manager of the oil platform.

The platform is located in the Maltese-Tunisian search and rescue zone. Sea Watch was also on site with the Seabird 1 aircraft to document the situation.

Meanwhile, the 53 people are still on the supply ship. They urgently need to be taken to a place of safety! Our crew remains on site and continues to try to get permission to take the people on board.