Humanitarians launch migrant rescue mission captained by former AFM commander

Philanthropist couple Christopher and Regina Catrambone  have spent millions of euros to buy a ship that will led by former Armed Forces of Malta commander Martin Xuereb, to locate migrants and rescue them.

The Migrant Offshore Aid Station was launched by the Catrambones following an appeal by the Pope after several hundred African migrants drowned off the Italian island of Lampedusa in October 2013.

The 43-metre ship, the Phoenix 1, will set sail for the central routes navigated by migrants, manned by a professional crew that includes paramedics.

WATCH Nobody deserves to die at sea | Martin Xuereb interviewed by Raphael Vassallo

The vessel has been equipped with rescue dinghies and drones to search for migrants’ boats, and then coordinate with rescue stations around the Mediterranean.

So far this year, more than 63,000 migrants have arrived in Italy by sea, according to the UN’s refugee agency, surpassing the previous record of around 62,000 set in the whole of 2011, the year of the “Arab Spring” uprisings. Several hundred migrants were also taken to Malta.