Le-Samuel-Beckett

The "LÉ Samuel Beckett" recovered three dead bodies while rescuing migrants off the coast of Tripoli. Following a request from the Italian Maritime Rescue, the Irish naval ship rescued 269 migrants from two rubber vessels during an SAR operation on Dec 4. During the course of the operation one of the vessels sunk and three migrants tragically died. Following the operation, the ship was directed to rendezvous with an Italian Coast Guard vessel where a further 160 migrants plus 11 deceased people were transferred to it.

The "LÉ Samuel Beckett" has assisted in the rescue of 140 migrants from a rubber boat in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya. The rescue operation began in the morning of Dec 3, and all the migrants were transferred to another rescue vessel, the "Aquarius". On board, the people taken from the boat were given food, water and medical treatment where necessary.

The "LE Samuel Beckett" rescued over 500 migrants from the freezing Mediterranean in the morning of Nov 28.The ship, which left Naval Service Headquarters in Haulbowline, Cork on Sep 23 to help Italian authorities with humanitarian search and rescue operations, said it took in 508 migrants in the early hours. They were travelling in four separate rubber vessels around 50 nautical miles northwest of Tripoli, Libya. The first rescue operation started at 2.20 a.m. following a request from the Italian Maritime Rescue Co-Ordination Centre. The "LE Samuel Beckett" took all of the migrants on board by 12.20 p.m. and they got food, water and medical treatement. It will now take them to a designated port of safety. Some 2,818 migrants have now been rescued by the vessel since it deployed to the area.