VIDEO: Navy officer tells of migrants’ rescue in Med

A navy officer has described the distressing scenes he and his crewmates witnessed when they came across leaking vessels crammed with scared migrants who had no lifejackets, little fuel, and no provisions.

The officer, who led boarding parties onto four migrant vessels in the Mediterranean Sea, is in no doubt that, without their intervention, many would have drowned.

Within the space of 36 hours, the LÉ Eithne rescued 637 migrants, including a five-month-old boy, from unseaworthy vessels which could easily have sunk.