After two days of searching in sweltering heat, our crew suddenly spotted a boat in distress this morning: a black rubber boat carrying 25 people, bobbing back and forth on the calm sea. The rubber boat had already lost air, and the engine had failed.

Our crew distributed life jackets to everyone and took the people aboard the Trotamar III shortly afterwards to prevent a possible pullback. The rubber boat had been drifting in the Libyan search and rescue region, where people in distress at sea are often forcibly returned to Libya.

As if to drive home the gravity of this danger, a boat of the so-called Libyan Coast Guard appeared – just as all the people in distress were safely aboard the Trotamar III. The speedboat accompanied us for twenty minutes before turning south.