PEGASOS

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AMS Pegasus saved scores of immigrants in Mediterranean after homicide on sea

The "AMS Pegasus 1" rescued 387 castaways from their disabled lumber ship in the sea near Sicily on Sep 11, 2014. The "AMS Pegasus I" had joined the efforts to rescue the disabled ship upon request by the Italian Coast Guard. The rescued boat was a small lumber carrier which accommodated 385 multinational crews, including 177 Egyptians, 129 Syrians, 45 Somalis, and 16 Palestinians. The ship's crew provided them with food and drink, while giving emergency medical care to some patients.At the moment when the lumber ship was rescued, it was on the verge of sinking,with food and drink almost exhausted. Another alert was raised in the afternoon of Sep 12 by the "AMS Pegasus" sighting two persons in the water off Malta. The Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) was contacted and ordered several adjacent merchant vessels to search and locate other possible persons at sea. A Maritime Patrol Aircraft of the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) and three Italian Coastguard and Navy Aircraft were also dispatched to conduct further searches in the area. 11 migrants were rescued, including three who were airlifted and transferred to Mater Dei Hospital on Sep 14 before 6:00 p.m., eight others were sent to Greece. The survivors stated that some refugees on the smaller boat, which could have been taking in water, were trying to get the bigger boat to stop before they eventually rammed it causing both vessels to sink. At least 800 migrants believed to have drowned in five separate incidents, the majority - at least 500 - killed when their boat was deliberately rammed and sunk by Egyptian smugglers whom they had paid for the voyage. Italian prosecutors in Catania have opened a homicide investigation based on the stories of two Palestinian survivors brought ashore in Pozzallo aboard the "AMS Pegasus". They were believed to be among only nine people to have survived the tragedy. A group of 500 Palestinians, Syrians and Sudanese had been held in a warehouse near a beach in Damietta before departing on Sep 6. The Syrian, Palestinian, Egyptian and Sudanese migrants had set out from Damietta in Egypt on September 6. Four bus loads of migrants were loaded onto the boat, which was between 15 and 18 metres long, until there were some 300 people crammed below deck and 200 on top - including up to 100 children. The small boat which was towed out to sea. In the middle of the voyage, the 500 were told to board an even smaller, more rickety vessel. When they refused, the smugglers became angry and used the tow-boat to ram the hull of the smaller vessel which sank. The 300 people who were in the lower deck were trapped and drowned immediately. The survivors say they watched as those thrown in the water clung to each other trying to stay alive. The sea swallowed the migrants on board fast, and many of them didn’t know how to swim. About seven or eight people clung to a lifebuoy for a day and a half. When help arrived, there were only two left. On the whole just 10 people survived. Two Palestinians were taken to Italy, two to Malta, while the other six, including a two year-old Syrian girl, were taken to hospital in Crete. The toddler remained in a critical condition.