The 171 migrants rescued by the Armed Forces of Malta on Thursday were packed in a small fishing boat that was taking in water and rolling dangerously in rough seas, according to the captain who headed the operation.

Speaking aboard the P61 patrol boat berthed at Hay Wharf after almost two days at sea, Captain James Grech said the migrants requested assistance when the army boat spotted them.

“It was an overcrowded fishing vessel, which also had people sitting on the roof of the cabin. The boat was close to the waterline and rolling dangerously in a sea swell of between 1.5 and two metres,” Capt. Grech said.

An inspection by soldiers after all migrants were transferred to the patrol boat revealed that the fishing boat was taking in water and the engine room was flooded.

Capt. Grech explained that the patrol boat never pulled up alongside the fishing vessel to avoid a situation where migrants shifted to one side with the risk of their boat capsizing. According to normal procedure the army deployed a dinghy.

“First we gave all people on board the fishing vessel a life jacket and drinking water because they were asking for it. We then started transferring the migrants in groups of 10 by dinghy onto the patrol boat,” he recounted, adding that women, children and migrants who appeared weak were the first to be transferred.

Capt. Grech recalled the sigh of relief when all migrants were successfully transferred to the patrol boat, especially those who had been in the fishing boat’s crammed hold.

“They looked very tired but none of them had problems related to dehydration,” he said.

Even though they had been plucked out of danger, the ordeal was not over because the Italian authorities denied the P61 entry into Lampedusa, which was the closest safe port to the scene of the rescue.

After 90 minutes of ongoing negotiations with the Italians that led to nowhere and given the rough seas, the Maltese authorities then ordered the patrol boat to make its way to Hay Wharf, a voyage that took almost eight hours.

The rescue operation was conducted in the shadow of the previous day’s tragedy when a migrant boat carrying about 300 people capsized while being assisted by two Italian coastguard ships.

“The crew are obviously very tired because they had been out at sea from the previous day but they are also very satisfied that the rescue operation was successful,” Capt. Grech said of his men.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com

See full interview on www.timesofmalta.com