deployment 3/24 begins … with an unplanned repair

Our third deployment in 2024 has begun. The crew of six volunteer activists under skipper Matthias has arrived in Licata (Sicily), our ship’s home port. Training with the dinghy in the Licata harbor basin began today and rescue situations are being simulated. In our small house at the foot of Castel Sant’Angelo, we talk about the challenges that await us. Unfortunately, technical problems with the propulsion system forced us into the boatyard at short notice.

Today, the crew of our deployment #3/24 started training in the harbor basin of Licata. With a second inflatable boat, which the sea rescue NGOs in Licata have procured together, we are practising rescue situations that we expect to encounter on the escape route in the Mediterranean. This involves initial communication with people or handing over life jackets until a person is rescued from the water. Our aim is to use the resources on board to stabilize the people on the unseaworthy boats until support arrives from the Italian Coast Guard or a larger rescue ship. In an emergency, we take the people on board the TROTAMAR III.

We will soon be setting off on our third mission this year at the EU’s external borders. We are supporting civilian sea rescue operations in the Mediterranean with our 13m sailing ship. We have enough rescue equipment on board to stabilize up to 200 people. We want to save people fleeing across the Mediterranean from death by drowning or dying of thirst and alleviate their immediate suffering. We document human rights violations and draw attention to the fate of refugees and the humanitarian catastrophe in the Mediterranean.

Because no human being is illegal.