![Small aid ships play big role in Europe's migrant crisis](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2016/08/_2/740x404/pic_1470464212_1.jpg)
Small Aid Ships Play Big Role In Europe's Migrant Crisis
Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published August 06, 2016 | 11:16 AM
![Small aid ships play big role in Europe's migrant crisis](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2016/08/_2/740x404/pic_1470464212_1.jpg)
ROME,(APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Augst,2016) - Two years ago, a small, privately-run ship set out to lend a hand to military operations in the Mediterranean rescuing migrants on boats near capsizing off Libya.
Today, there are a dozen such aid ships engaged in over 20 percent of the life-saving missions. The first step was taken by Christopher and Regina Catrambone, a wealthy Italian-American couple based in Malta who were aghast at the shipwreck off the island of Lampedusa in October 2013 which claimed some 365 lives. Their MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) association in 2014 launched the Phoenix, a 40-metre (130-foot) refurbished fishing vessel which paled in comparison with the vast fleet of the Mare Nostrum operation, then conducted by Italy's navy and coastguard. But some 3,000 of the 50,000 migrants rescued in the weeks that followed were saved by this small boat.
And the MOAS operation became one to emulate. "We could not leave people to die like that," said Sophie Beau, the executive director of SOS Mediterranee, a French, Italian and German organisation founded in 2015. There are now a dozen such humanitarian ships patrolling off the . coast of Libya, chartered by MOAS, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), SOS Mediterranee, the Catalan Proactiva Open Arms and German Sea-Watch, Sea-Eye and Jugend Rettet. "In some cases, we literally pulled people from the water," said Gerard Canals, the Proactiva Open Arms mission head. "In others we secured the dinghies while waiting for the larger ships, or sent our doctor aboard a military ship to examine migrants." Jugend Rettet jumped straight in at the deep end last week, its Iuventa ship dealing on day one with six overcrowded migrant dinghies at once.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
![Cricket: England v West Indies 3rd Test scoreboard](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019914.jpg)
Cricket: England v West Indies 3rd Test scoreboard
![Finance minister briefs Chinese officials on refor ..](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019922.jpg)
Finance minister briefs Chinese officials on reform agenda, engagement with IMF
![Finland says Russian vessel violated its territori ..](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019912.jpg)
Finland says Russian vessel violated its territorial waters
![Olympic opening ceremony under way on River Seine](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019266.jpg)
Olympic opening ceremony under way on River Seine
![West Indies' treble strike rocks England in third ..](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019264.jpg)
West Indies' treble strike rocks England in third Test
![Ukraine court orders detention of suspect in murde ..](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019262.jpg)
Ukraine court orders detention of suspect in murder of nationalist ex-MP
![Long queues, ticketing problems ahead of Paris ope ..](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019015.jpg)
Long queues, ticketing problems ahead of Paris opening ceremony
![Rana Sanaullah Khan joins Paris 2024 Olympics inau ..](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019638.jpg)
Rana Sanaullah Khan joins Paris 2024 Olympics inauguration reception
![Glowing tributes mark 69th birthday of President Z ..](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019637.jpg)
Glowing tributes mark 69th birthday of President Zardari at Governor's House
![Players unaware of spying scandal as Canada Olympi ..](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019635.jpg)
Players unaware of spying scandal as Canada Olympic coach sent home: official
![Naqvi hails Pak women cricketers for going down fi ..](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019013.jpg)
Naqvi hails Pak women cricketers for going down fighting against SL
!['Sabotage' on French rail network before Olympics: ..](https://photo-cdn.urdupoint.com/media/2024/07/_1/235x155/pic_1722019634.jpg)
'Sabotage' on French rail network before Olympics: What we know
More Stories From World
-
Biden talks Gaza ceasefire efforts with king of Jordan
5 hours ago -
Sinaloa Cartel co-founder pleads not guilty after stunning US capture
5 hours ago -
Panama says Venezuela blocked ex-presidents going to observe polls
5 hours ago -
Ethiopia mourns victims of landslide tragedy
5 hours ago -
Khan Yunis fighting displaces 180,000 Gazans in four days: UN
5 hours ago -
Trump slams rivals as he meets Netanyahu in Florida
5 hours ago
-
Obama & his wife, Michelle, officially endorse US VP Kamala Harris for president
6 hours ago -
Rain, cooling slow huge blaze in Canada's Jasper park
6 hours ago -
Airbus and Boeing supremacy secure despite turbulence
6 hours ago -
S.African police detain 95 Libyans at suspected military camp
6 hours ago -
'Slapping therapist' guilty over UK diabetic woman's death
7 hours ago -
Panama says Venezuela blocked flight of ex-presidents going to observe polls
7 hours ago