Father Mari rescues 31 people travelling on a small boat across the Mediterranean on Wednesday. It is the first rescue of the ship after the departure a few days ago from the port of Vinaròs.

In 2017 the NGO Humanitarian Marine Rescue launched the Aita Mari Maydayterraneo project. Thanks to the funding of volunteers and associations, they brought the rescue boat Aita Mari to carry out rescue missions in the middle Mediterranean waters.

According to the organization, Aita Mari saw a "small and unstable wood" structure in which there were 31 people "blinking nerves and asking for help." As they did not have security equipment, the lifeguard crew has declared that there was a "serious risk of loss of life". All people are "healthy and safe."

Among the persons attended, among others, 11 women, three of them pregnant, travelled ten children and one 3-month-old child, from Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal and Guinea.

Italy authorises Aita Mari to land at the port of Civitavecchia, near Rome, about two days from where the ship is located. Humanitarian Marine Rescue has recalled that the international agreement for the safety of human life at sea provides that in the event of a rescue, the ship will be handed over to the nearest port and that Italy will routinely violate it. This indicates that the suffering of those who have been migrating for months or years increases.

https://twitter.com/maydayterraneo/status/1625996402277883908?s=20 https://twitter.com/maydayterraneo/status/1625996402277883908?s=20

https://twitter.cm/maydayterraneo/status/1625996402277883908?s=20

#Aitamari rescues 31 people overcrowded in a small wooden pot at serious risk. Artean, emakume pregnant, haur eta oinkariak. All of them win healthy and save!! ? https://t.co/TBkOndvyZl ? @XimenaBorraza pic.twitter.com/W7CHvTGJz1

— maydayterraneo (@maydayterraneo) February 15, 2023