This is the moment a humanitarian vessel searching for refugees lost in the Mediterranean received a rescue call.
All staff aboard the SOS Meditarranee’s Aquarius have been told are that there are four rubber boats “in distress.”
“This morning we received a call from the MRCC in Rome informing us that there are four rubber boats in distress, a few hours east of our location,” Lauren King, MSF comms manager, told HuffPost UK.
Describing the reality of the journey ahead, Stefan Broc’h, Deputy SAR coordinator, said: “We always know when we start but we don’t know when we finish.”
The search and rescue team include medical staff who work closely with Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC, Rome) in the sea area between Sicily, Lampedusa and Libya.