LÉ Samuel Beckett crew rescue 316 refugees in three operations

The crew of LÉ Samuel Beckett edged close to their 1,000th refugee rescue in the Mediterranean Sea after they were involved in three operations yesterday — rescuing a total of 316 people.

The first began at 4.10am Irish time when they spotted a rubber dinghy crammed with 108 people floating in the sea 60km north-east of the coast of the Libyan capital Tripoli.

The navy ship launched its Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats (RHIBS) to the dinghy, removing the refugees and transferring them to the Médecins Sans Frontières ship MV Bourbon Argos which gave them food and medical attention.

The Irish ship was back in action shortly after 7am when it located another dinghy packed with 117 people.

Its RHIBS were again launched to retrieve the refugees, who were this time taken onboard LÉ Samuel Beckett where they were attended to by the crew.

Later in the morning the navy ship picked up a further 91 people from a dinghy, this time 50km north-east of the coast.

They were also brought onboard LÉ Samuel Beckett and then transferred to another vessel which brought them to an Italian port. The ship remained on patrol last night.

It brought its total number of rescues since deploying in the area to 977 and the total Irish Naval Service rescue numbers this year to 8,374.

The 59-strong crew, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Anthony Geraghty, were deployed on the mission on September 25 and are due to return home on December 4.