“When we found the heavily overcrowded boat, the side walls were only ten centimetres out of the water and the occupants had already started bailing water,” said Ingo Werth, skipper on the Nadir. His crew therefore immediately began distributing life jackets. They also noticed a six-month-old baby, which they took on board the sailing ship for safety, as the steel boat could capsize at any time due to its unstable construction and increasing waves. When an Italian coastguard ship arrived shortly afterwards and began to evacuate the people, panic broke out among the occupants. The steel boat lost its balance, water sloshed over the side and the boat sank in a matter of seconds. Only 15 people had been taken onto the coastguard vessel at the time, the remaining 30 were suddenly in the water and therefore in acute danger of losing their lives.
By joining forces, the crews of the two ships were able to rescue all the people swimming in the water. “Our dinghy was close to the action the whole time and was therefore able to quickly throw a lifejacket into the water for the last person who didn’t yet have one,” says Ingo Werth. “We had already lowered our centifloat (a nine-metre-long inflated rescue tube) into the water so that eight people could hold on to it.” The coastguard vessel then took over all the people who had been secured by the Nadir in the meantime, as well as the baby taken on board, and brought them to Lampedusa.
It was the fourth boat in distress that the Nadir was able to assist on the current observation mission – the second this year. Twice it had to take people on board itself and bring them to Lampedusa because the risk of capsizing was very high due to the high waves.
