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.

The ship located the vessel at 8am and started transferring the refugees off it in RIBs (rigid inflatable boats), taking the women, elderly, and sick first.

Once onboard LÉ Samuel Beckett, the refugees were given food and water and, in some cases, medical attention.

The ship is also working alongside the Royal Navy’s HMS Enterprise, an oceanographic survey vessel, which was sent to replace the amphibious transport ship HMS Bulwark on the mission.

The crew help refugees to board the LÉ Samuel Beckett. Picture: Dan Linehan

HMS Enterprise is one-fifth the size of the ship she took over from. Because it has not the space that HMS Bulwark had, it is likely in the coming weeks that LÉ Samuel Beckett will be involved in more transfers of migrants to Italian port than has previously occurred on the Irish mission.

LÉ Samuel Beckett, which has a 59-strong crew under the command of Lieutenant Commander Anthony Geraghty, left its base in Haulbowline, Co Cork on September 25 to replace LÉ Niamh.

The latest rescue means that to date the Irish Naval Service has plucked 7,639 migrants from the Mediterranean Sea.

Last June, Naval Service flagship LÉ Eithne became the first Irish vessel to commence operations in the region and rescued 3,377 without incident.

Managing causes of the #refugeescrisis is most important http://t.co/DxXnss7hX8 (DOD) pic.twitter.com/JuoX1Q9e4o

— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) October 5, 2015

It was replaced by LÉ Niamh, which rescued 4,020 people.

However, during the 12-week tour of duty, the crew came across the bodies of 14 men and a teenage boy crushed in the hull of a barge and also had to recover the bodies of 24 migrants who drowned when the boat they were in capsized.

The crew of LÉ Niamh returned home last Friday to a heroes welcome.

LÉ Samuel Beckett will stay on patrol in the Mediterranean Sea until the end of November, at which time the cabinet will decide if a further replacement ship is needed for the remainder of the year, or if they will wait until the spring when the weather improves.