Late on Thursday, September 29, the Geo Barents rescue ship, operated by the medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF), was given permission to disembark the 76 migrants it rescued in the port of Taranto in southern Italy.

According to the Marine Traffic locator site, the Geo Barents was underway towards Taranto on Friday morning and by the time of writing appeared to be close to docking in Taranto.

The medical charity tweeted that “after nearly eight days at sea, the 76 survivors will finally disembark in the port of Taranto.” The charity cautioned though that although the disembarkation was good news, the journey for the migrants on board was not yet over.

'Escaped from the horrors of Libya'

MSF stated that among the 76 people they most recently rescued, there are 18 unaccompanied minors on board. They accompanied this statement with a picture of some of the young people drawing and coloring in patterns while on board the ship. Those rescued had experienced a "horrible journey" and had "escaped from the horrors of Libya," said MSF.

The rescue operation took place on September 21. MSF posted videos of the nighttime rescue with the swell from the waves appearing to be fairly high as the rescue team handed out life jackets to those on board the overcrowded rubber boat.

MSF on September 28 said it had sent ten demands to the Italian and Maltese authorities asking to be assigned a port for disembarkation, but it had received “no reply.”

Eight days without food or water

On September 26, MSF published testimony from 26 survivors who had landed in Pozzallo in Sicily on September 13 and 14.

These people, said MSF, had left Turkey and spent 15 days at sea before being rescued and brought to Sicily. Their boat had broken down during the voyage and they said they had quickly run out of water. Six people died during the journey, including three babies, two women and a man.

Many of those who survived the journey, said MSF psychologist Mara Tunno, were still in shock when they arrived at the first reception center in Pozzallo. The survivors in this case were all Syrian and Afghan.

One Syrian man said that they had begun to drink the sea water and the water from the motor, even though they knew it could kill them, because they felt they had no choice. One man, suffering from epilepsy said his throat was so dry by the end of the voyage that he could no longer swallow the medicine he had brought with him.

Many boats passed them, they said, without helping. One did throw water and food towards them but it all fell into the sea, too far away from them to be able to benefit. The survivors lasted eight days, according to their statements, without food or drinking water before finally being rescued.