New Irish vessel rescues 430

The third Naval Service ship to embark on humanitarian duties in the Mediterranean Sea made its rescue debut by taking onboard more than 430 refugees in a combined operation with the Italians.

LÉ Samuel Beckett, which has replaced LÉ Niamh on the mission, rescued 237 men and five women 80km north-west of the Libyan capital Tripoli and later took onboard nearly 200 more who were picked up by an Italian vessel.

The operation began at 3am yesterday when an Italian naval service helicopter spotted the barge heading north and the crew of LÉ Samuel Beckett were asked by the Italian Marine Rescue Co0ordination Centre to intercept it.