100 migrants recovered from the Libyan coast guard, finally operational thanks to Italy and the Eunavfor Med mission - Sophia

The Libyan coast guard has held a dinghy with approx 100 immigrants on board, almost all of Sudanese nationality. The alarm, which started yesterday afternoon from the dinghy, had been intercepted by the ships of the NGO Mediterranea and Proactiva Open Arms. The NGO Mediterranea wrote on Twitter that "120 people" were in danger of drowning, explaining that it had "informed the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Center and the Libyans on their instructions, without any response".

"The rubber boat takes on water, some people have already drowned" had warned Mediterranea, asking for immediate action. The authorities of Malta, on the other hand, according to what is learned from sources in the Interior Ministry, took over at 4 this morning the coordination of a rescue operation off the coast of Libya for a boat that left Zliten. On Twitter, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini commented: "Many greetings to smugglers and NGOs".

According to what is learned from Italian sources, however, a tugboat that was in front of the Libyan oil platforms would have reached the dinghy around three in the morning and after having recovered the migrants would have awaited the arrival of a Libyan Coast Guard patrol boat, which he communicated to the Italian authorities that he had taken the coordination of relief efforts.

Apparently the Libyan Coast Guard is increasingly able to intervene in the sea area in front of its coasts. The result of these rescue operations is due to the training activity carried out in Italy by the European mission Eunavfor Med - Sophia and thanks to the Italian patrol boats donated to Libya.

According to what is learned from the site of the Defense, at the school of the non-commissioned officers of the Italian navy a La Maddalena is underway a training module for the staff of the Coast Guard and Libyan navy, part of the "Package 2" (training at ground training centers) which provides for the carrying out of two different courses in favor of about 70 militar selected Libyans.

The two courses, focusing respectively on operations for operational staff and technical-logistic staff, will end the 30 November 2018.

The module, with a total duration of eight weeks, aims to provide the users with the necessary skills for the correct execution of their duties on board the patrol boats supplied, also through the knowledge of the unavoidable standards of humanitarian law and related to gender aspects (gender), as well as the elements of primo soccorso and the not secondary improvement in the knowledge of the English language. At the end of the module in La Maddalena, EUNAVFOR Med  will have trained a total of 305 military personnel from the Coast Guard and the Libyan Navy.

Since October 2016, the staff of SOPHIA  is directly involved inCoast Guard training  and the Libyan Navy; the aim of the training modules is to improve the safety of Libyan territorial waters by increasing the ability of Libyan personnel to complete the tasks assigned within their area of ​​responsibility, also emphasizing the necessary relevance of international standards for the respect of human rights, with particular regard to minors, women and vulnerable subjects, in addition to the correct management of the search operations e rescue at sea.

100 migrants recovered from the Libyan coast guard, finally operational thanks to Italy and the Eunavfor Med mission - Sophia