Romanian border police officers have rescued 79 migrants on a Frontex mission in the Mediterranean Sea, on a boat south of Lampedusa.
Border police officers from Romania rescued 79 migrants off a small wooden boat in the Lampedusa area, while on patrol in the Mediterranean Sea (under the framework of the Joint Maritime Operation Themis 2024).
Unfortunate weather led to a decision to transfer everyone on the small boat to the Romanian border police vessel, although its capacity was also exceeded.
The people in question were from Egypt, Pakistan and Syria.
“The whole operation took several hours, was difficult, at night and the people were exhausted. The rescue operation was successfully completed and the people were brought to the port and taken over by the Italian authorities, which have started the specific procedures in such situations. Upon completion of the rescue action, the maritime vessel Kewatec MAI 3064, which has a crew of 8 border police officers and which started its mission on June 12, 2024 in the Mediterranean Sea, resumed its mission in the framework of the Frontex operation,” the press release reads.
The Romanian Border Police maritime patrol vessel carries out individual patrol, surveillance, search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean Sea, and the main objective of the joint maritime operation is to support the Italian authorities in the surveillance and control of the European Union’s maritime borders, as well as search and rescue of persons in distress at sea (Search and Rescue) at the external border of the European Union, reports Agerpres.
