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A rescue boat funded by British street artist Banksy has moved all the migrants on board to safety following a cry for help today.
The Italian coastguard ship came to the aid of MV Louise Michel after she sent a distress signal with more than 200 people on board.
“Faced with the danger posed by the situation, the Coast Guard sent a patrol boat from Lampedusa … which embarked the 49 people in the most fragile condition: 32 women, 13 children and four men,” the coast guard said in a statement. .
In the last hour, all the remaining migrants aboard the MV Louise Michel have been transferred to Seawatch4, a rescue ship run by the Sea-Watch International charity.
The German-flagged ship said it needed urgent help after assisting a ship carrying at least one dead migrant.
The 31-meter ship’s crew said it was overcrowded and unable to move after encountering another ship trying to cross the expanse of sea that divides Europe and Africa with 130 people on board.
“There is already one person dead on the ship. We need immediate help,” Louise Michel’s crew wrote on Twitter, saying other migrants had fuel burns and had been at sea for days.
The 10-person crew on the ship, named after 19th-century French anarchist Louise Michel, had previously rescued 89 other people from a rubber boat in distress on Thursday.
The motor yacht, formerly owned by French customs, is smaller but considerably faster than other charity rescue boats, allowing it to outperform Libyan coast guard ships, according to The Guardian.
Its crew is “made up of European activists with long experience in search and rescue operations” and is captained by German human rights activist Pia Klemp, who has also captained other rescue ships of this type, the newspaper reported.
#LouiseMichel I just transferred all the remaining guests to # SeaWatch4, which now have around 350 people on board. It is not over: we demand a safe place for all survivors, now. pic.twitter.com/KjUEG6yp4A
– LouiseMichel (@MVLouiseMichel) August 29, 2020
Banksy’s involvement in the rescue mission dates back to September 2019 when she sent Ms Klemp an email asking how she could contribute.
Painted in hot pink and white, the Louise Michel features a Banksy artwork depicting a girl in a life jacket holding a heart-shaped safety buoy.
Thousands of people are believed to have died on the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean to flee conflict, repression and poverty in Africa and the Middle East.
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