The Rise Above rescue ship, operated by the German rescue organization Mission Lifeline, saved almost 70 migrants in the Mediterranean on Wednesday in three operations.
The crew of the Rise Above rescue ship, operated by the private German rescue organization Mission Lifeline, announced it had rescued around 70 migrants on Wednesday, July 20 across three separate operations.
On Thursday, the crew said that some of the migrants had to be medically evacuated by the Italian coast guard.
A day before, the migrants and around 70 others had been rescued by the crew. "It has been a stressful few hours here in the Mediterranean," tweeted the crew of the Rise Above on Wednesday on their Mission Lifeline Twitter page. "But that is nothing compared to what the people we have just brought on board have been through. We have now made sure everyone is OK, including for some people medical care that was needed, and now everything is calm on board."
On Sunday, the boat’s crew picked up two "over-full boats of migrants" in the Mediterranean and were later able to transfer them to the Italian coast guard to be taken safely to shore.
First rescues on Sunday
Mission Lifeline commented at the time, on July 17, that if the German government were to evacuate migrants directly from Libya, then their job in the Mediterranean would be obsolete. "Instead, people are left at the hands of smugglers, whose business model only works because it is not possible to cross these borders legally," added Mission Lifeline.
Earlier on July 17, Rise Above left the Italian port of Licata in Sicily, and headed towards the Maltese Search and Rescue zone. At the time, the Marine Traffic locator website showed they are just south of the Sicilian coast once again, not too far from the port of Ragusa.
According to the Mission Lifeline website, and its founder Axel Steier, the Rise Above was acquired in January 2020 by Mission Lifeline; and then rebuilt together with three brothers, Gerson, Raphael and Benjamin Reschke, who founded the Sea Punks organization.
The ship is 25 meters long and was a former torpedo recovery boat. The ship can take about 150 people on board. Mission Lifeline began its missions with Rise Above in October 2021.