LÉ Eithne rescues 467 people from wooden barge and raft

The Naval Service LÉ Eithne has conducted its biggest migrant rescue operation to date when it took onboard 467 adults and children who had been trying to reach the EU in a dilapidated wooden barge and rubber raft.

The latest rescue mission brings to 1,620 the number of migrants the ship has rescued since it took up operations in the Mediterranean Sea on May 23 as part of an EU humanitarian mission.

LÉ Eithne was called into action early yesterday morning when a barge was spotted 50km northwest of the Libyan capital Tripoli.

The vessel dispatched RIBs (rigid inflatable boats) to the craft and started transferring migrants onboard.

All the migrants — 278 men, 80 women, and nine children — were successfully taken onboard by 10.09am. Weather conditions in the area at the time were described as choppy, with a south-easterly 1m-high swell.

Less than three hours later, the flagship was called to go to the aid of around 100 migrants onboard an inflatable raft 70km north-west of Tripoli.

That rescue operation started at 12.57pm and was completed at 2.30pm.

Once onboard, all the migrants received medical attention, food, and water.

Naval Service press officer Lieutenant Commander Eric Timon said many of the migrants were suffering from sea sickness and severe dehydration due to the strong sun in the Mediterranean.

“These people — we can only imagine what conditions they are actually fleeing from,” he said.

“You must put yourself in their minds to wonder what would make them get into a vessel which is essentially unsafe; to be cast adrift into the ocean with the hope of rescue and possibly making the shores of Europe.”

Lt Cmdr Timon said photographs taken by the crew showed some migrants collapsing in relief at being rescued.

“The emotional stress they must be undergoing at the moment and then the relief of seeing these Irish sailors taking them off that dangerous raft and then taking them onto a safe ship for onward transfer to a port of refuge,” he said.

The vessel was docked in the port city of Catania in Sicily last night.

“The LÉ Eithne is scheduled to remain in the Mediterranean until mid-July. Then she is to be replaced by another Irish naval vessel,” the officer said.