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.

Lt Shane Mulcahy, 28, said that migrants were crammed into three rubber dinghies, all of which were losing air, and a wooden barge, which was leaking, had no pumps, and had lost engine power.

“When we reached the first rubber craft, all we could see was a sea of people. We asked if there were children on board and one woman lifted up a five-month-old baby boy. That really hit everybody. He was the first migrant disembarked, along with a couple of women,” Lt Mulcahy said.

None of those rescued, including many women and children, had lifejackets.

Lt Mulcahy described the wooden barge “as something else”.

“There was one foot of water in the bilges. All they had on board to guide them was a magnetic compass. There was no pumping equipment onboard. All they could use was a bucket.”

The vessel had also lost power by the time the LÉ Eithne reached her.

READ NEXT: VIDEO: On board LÉ Eithne: ‘It’s very distressing to see what people put themselves through in the hope of a better life’