Life-Support

The 'Life Support' reached the port of Augusta on June 29 at 1 p.m., after retrieving the bodies of two migrants in international waters in the Libyan SAR zone on June 27. The ship's captain Augusto Candido said it was the first time that the Life Support had retrieved bodies instead of rescuing people, and it was a very difficult experience for crew members. The alarm was raised on June 26, by the migrant-rescue vessel 'Sea-Watch' after its aircraft Seabird filmed one of the bodies and saw five others in the waters off Libya. It was supposed that a vessel in distress sank unbeknown or that the case was reported but remained without an answer for too many days, or that Libyan coast guards or other Libyans intercepted it and that some people were thrown into the sea so they wouldn't have to be taken back to Libya, Given the advanced decomposition of the bodies, officials couldn't initially determine their gender. It was presumed that they remained at sea for at least a week, given their condition.

The 'Life Support',has rescued 215 shipwrecked migrants in three missions in the central Mediterranean. The three separate rescues took place in Libyan waters, the NGO Emergency announced on April 5, 2025. However, at least 14 people are missing. The first boat was reported by the emergency response center Alarm Phone at dawn. 93 migrants were on a rubber dinghy that was losing air. The migrants reported they had set off from the Libyan coast on April 4. According to the survivors, this boat also contained the missing people who fell overboard before rescuers arrived. During the mission, the rescuers saw another boat in trouble. All 78 migrants on board were rescued and taken aboard the 'Life Support.' The third mission, also reported by Alarm Phone, involved a rubber dinghy with 44 people on board. The 215 refugees, including 53 women, 83 unaccompanied minors, and nine accompanied by migrants, came from Eritrea, Somalia, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mali, and Benin. The Italian authorities have assigned Ancona in the northern Adriatic Sea as a landing port.

On Nov 17, the 'Life Support' arrived at the port of Ancona with 49 rescued migrants on board, including six women and six unaccompanied minors from Syria, Egypt, and Bangladesh. The rescue took place on Nov 12 in international waters within the Maltese SAR area in the Central Mediterranean. The migrants had departed from Al-Zawiya, Libya, aboard a small, overcrowded fiberglass boat that was ill-equipped for a Mediterranean crossing and lacked adequate safety measures. It was the first time that the authorities assigned the ship the port of Ancona, but overall it was the fifth time that it was sent to the northern Atlantic, which means long navigation away from the SAR area, therefore a long absence from the operational area.