POST
PRODUCTION
SCRIPT
Foreign
Correspondent
2021
The
Cruel Sea
30
mins 47 secs
©2021
ABC
Ultimo Centre
700
Harris Street Ultimo
NSW
2007 Australia
GPO
Box 9994
Sydney
NSW
2001 Australia
Phone:
61 419 231 533
Precis
|
Oscar Camps' company runs
the lifeguard services on the busy beaches of Barcelona, Spain. Now there's another group of
people at sea who need help, and he sees it as his duty to offer it. "Nothing is more
important than to protect life at sea," says Oscar. "Protecting
life is not a crime, it is a duty". In summer when the
Mediterranean is calm, the sea becomes Europe's deadliest migrant crossing as
people flee Africa for a better life. For the crew of
Barcelona-based rescue group Open Arms, it's time to set sail. Director and founder, Oscar
Camps, and his crew of trained lifeguards, know that the consequences for
those fleeing can be fatal: "Thousands of deaths every year, between two
and three thousand each year, repeatedly and continuously." But Italy wants to stop boat
migration and in April it impounded Open Arms's rescue ship. In defiance, the
crew is taking out a yacht called The Astral. Reporter Eric Campbell joins
the crew on The Astral on a dramatic and dangerous journey of search and
rescue on the Mediterranean. They meet boatloads of
people from different countries and with different stories but all have one
purpose: destination Europe. One of the first scenes they
come across is a tiny boat with more than 50 men, women and children.
Helpless and floating in the dark, one migrant who came from as far as
Zimbabwe says, "We are suffering. We are suffering too much in our home
country." They are all desperate to find a better life. They come across a sinking
boatload of young Tunisians, including minors, fleeing after a coup in their
country. They encounter a people
smuggler lying about a dying baby to trick them into mounting a rescue. And they come up against
Italy and the EU's increasingly hard-line policy on asylum seekers, even
paying Libyans to turn boats back at gunpoint. Disembarking in Sicily,
Campbell talks to migrants who've already made the perilous journey but now
regret it as life in Europe is so tough for them. They have a warning for
migrants: don't come! But the boats keep coming. For those aboard The Astral,
their only concern is saving lives. After two weeks, the yacht conducts 15
rescue mission and helps 400 migrants. "No matter what their motivations
are, why they left, why they flee, persecution, misery, war, it doesn't
matter, they don't have to die abandoned at sea," says Oscar. |
|
Calm
Mediterranean |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Its high summer in the Mediterranean, and when the sea is
calm, it becomes Europe's deadliest crossing. |
00:10 |
African
migrant boats at sea |
ALBERT: Sit down, sit down
everyone. |
00:19 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Tens of thousands fleeing Africa for a
better life. |
00:23 |
|
YOUNG
TUNISIAN MAN: You find God. You find
solution, or you die. |
00:29 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Italy wants to stop the
boats, even if it costs lives. SAVVAS: I am in the sea |
00:32 |
Savvas
on radio to coastguard |
trying to keep the people alive and you tell me
to call Malta! |
00:38 |
Astral
crew |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: We join a rescue group
saving boats in defiance of Italy. So they see you as the enemy? GERARD: Absolutely, yes. ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: And we follow migrants on
their perilous path to Europe. |
00:41 |
Drone
shot. Migrant boat at sea Title: The Cruel Sea |
Music |
00:54 |
Drone
shots over city, beach. Super: |
|
01:00 |
Eric
boards Open Arms boat |
|
01:17 |
Crew
prepare boat. Super: |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: We're about to set sail
on a high stakes mission. Open Arms rescues migrants and refugees in
distress. Its founder and director Oscar Camps says its one aim is to save
lives. |
01:20 |
|
OSCAR:
No matter what their motivations,
why they left, whether it was persecution, misery or war, |
01:46 |
Oscar
interview |
it doesn't matter. They don't have to die
abandoned at sea. |
01:55 |
Oscar
and crew prepare |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: He was once a
lifeguard patrolling the calm beaches of Barcelona. Now his passion is using
lifesaving skills on the open sea. He says Open Arms has rescued 62,000
people in the past six years. These days he's also fighting European
governments trying to turn back the boats. |
02:00 |
|
OSCAR: From March 2018, Italy stopped
coordinating humanitarian rescues and started to persecute and block them. |
02:27 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: What are the
consequences? OSCAR: Thousands of deaths every year, between
two and three thousand every year. |
02:36 |
Astral
sets sail |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Open Arms would normally take out a big
rescue ship, capable of saving hundreds of people and taking them to the
nearest port. But in April,
Italy impounded the Open Arms ship to stop them helping migrants. In defiance, they're taking out this yacht.
|
02:46 |
Eric
on board Astral |
Music |
03:06 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Called the Astral, it's
too small to rescue large numbers of people. The plan is to find boats in trouble and
keep the passengers safe until emergency authorities arrive. |
03:13 |
|
GERARD: We give them water, we give them food, we evaluate any medical cases. ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: The head of mission is
Gerard Canals. |
03:2/ |
Gerard
briefs rescue crew |
GERARD: What's our total capacity in the life
rafts?... 120 people in the
rafts. The issue with the rafts is they can't sail. So we'll need the
coastguard to come. |
03:35 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Once they worked closely
with coastguards. |
03:47 |
Frontex
advertisement |
FRONTEX AD: Together we protect these borders and make Europe
a safer home for all of us. |
03:51 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: But Europe's border
agency Frontex has embraced Australia's hard line against so-called boat
people. |
03:59 |
African
migrants on Open Arms rescue boat |
This year, as crossings increased, Italy not only
impounded the Open Arms rescue ship, it seized the vessels of four other
non-government rescue groups, or NGOs, claiming they weren't fit to operate. |
04:08 |
Gerard
interview on boat |
GERARD: They punish those who are
helping people at sea. |
04:30 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: So they see you as the enemy? |
04:33 |
|
GERARD: Absolutely. They don't even share
information about the targets.
Rather they prefer the boats to be lost at sea than tell us. It
is the first rule of the sea, you have to help those in danger. |
04:35 |
Irene
and Albert take photos of sunset |
Music
|
04:48 |
Albert
and Irene on boat |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Gerard Canals
will lead rescues with two lifeguards, Albert Roma and Irene Romero. When
they hear of migrants in distress, they'll use small speed boats to reach
them. |
04:54 |
Savvas
on radio |
The captain, Savvas Kourepinis will try to
persuade the coastguards to come to their aid. It's going to take us three days to reach the
search and rescue zone. |
05:10 |
Eric
to camera on boat |
And for now, as far as NGO rescue missions go,
this boat is basically it for the entire Central Mediterranean. The crew of
eight will sail us around an area of more than a quarter of a million square
kilometres to try to find and help people before they drown. |
05:28 |
Astral
at sea, dusk |
With almost no wind, the boat motors slowly toward
the Strait of Sicily. |
05:56 |
GFX
Map. Search and Rescue zones of Central Mediterranean |
The Central Mediterranean is divided into nominal
search and rescue zones, though Open Arms claims every country is failing its
legal obligations. Our destination is the Italian island of
Lampedusa, 90 nautical miles from Malta. It's
the closest European landfall to Libya, so it's where many of the migrant
boats are heading. |
06:03 |
Astral
at sea. Night/Calm sea |
|
06:30 |
|
The crew monitors the emergency radio channel
around the clock. Boats use it to call for help. The
sea is eerily calm as we approach Lampedusa. It
means the boats are coming. |
06:35 |
|
RADIO:
Good evening, good evening. Calling
Lampedusa! Lampedusa! Lampedusa! I need help please! |
07:00 |
Crew
react to distress call |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Soon the Astral
picks up a distress call from a fisherman, and the first night of rescues
begins. |
07:07 |
Gerard
interview |
GERARD:
A fisherman seems to have found a refugee
boat. He says they were children among the people that they found. We change
our course and now we are heading towards this position. |
07:19 |
Heading
towards boats in darkness |
It is difficult to find the boats and the
situation is more stressful because you don't see anything. |
07:28 |
Preparing
speed boat |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: In the inky
darkness the crew prepares to take out a speed boat. Irene,
your first rescue. How do you feel? IRENE:
I'll tell you later. ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Good luck. IRENE:
Thank you. ALBERT: Let's go guys. |
07:46 |
Savvas
on radio |
SAVVAS: Lampedusa Radio, this is Astral. ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: While the lifeguards
search for the boat the captain, Savvas, tries to persuade the Italians or
the Maltese to mount a rescue. SAVVAS:
I don't understand you, sir. Can you
repeat please? ITALIAN COASTGUARD: You are in the SAR area of Malta. Do you call Emergency Malta to request the
assistance, over? SAVVAS: Look, I received a distress and I come to
help. |
08:04 |
|
ITALIAN COASTGUARD: Yes, okay sir. I give you the number of Emergency
Malta. SAVVAS I
have it. I have it. I call but nobody answer. |
08:34 |
Albert
and Irene arrive at migrant boat |
|
08:43 |
|
ALBERT:
Okay, okay, not good. ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: The rescue team finds a
small wooden boat packed solid with more than 50 people. |
08:48 |
|
ALBERT:
Stop standing. We need to go to you,
so stop standing, please. How many children? How many children? Sit down, please. ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: They've come from
the Libyan port of Zuwara and have no lights or provisions and they're
running low on fuel. |
08:57 |
Albert
hands out life jackets |
ALBERT: One by one. There's a lifejacket for everyone, so don't
worry. ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: But the Italians
won't come and the Maltese won't even answer. ITALIAN COASTGUARD: Try this number, zero zero three five. |
09:24 |
Savvas
on radio |
SAVVAS :I'm
in the sea, trying to keep the people alive and you say me to call Malta? I
have children on board. What do I have to do? |
09:51 |
Albert
with migrant boat |
ALBERT: Don't stand up. Sit down. |
10:00 |
Savvas
on radio |
ITALIAN COASTGUARD: The Search and Rescue Area is the competence of
Emergency Malta. I'll give you another number. Six two two one. |
10:04 |
|
SAVVAS: I called you first. Why don't you solve
this problem? |
10:14 |
Migrants
huddled on boat |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: The migrants have
travelled from as far south as Zimbabwe to start the journey from Libya. Were
you scared to come across the ocean? |
10:20 |
|
WOMAN:
No, it's fifty-fifty. ERIC:
Fifty-fifty. So you might live, you might die? WOMAN: Of course. ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: But you are prepared to risk your life to come here. WOMAN: Of course, we are suffering.
Libya is a long story. |
10:30 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: They've been on the water for
24 hours. And their wait has just begun. |
10:46 |
|
ITALIAN COASTGUARD: Astral, you have a
line from Emergency Malta. ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Italy finally agrees to
connect Astral to the Maltese Emergency Service by radio. MALTA RESCUE: Hello, this is Rescue
Coordination Centre Malta. Go ahead. |
10:56 |
Savvas
on radio |
SAVVAS: Yes I have one
fishing boat position 35 degree 14.4 minute north… MALTA RESCUE: Ah, yes.
Can you kindly send an email? |
11:12 |
|
SAVVAS: I send you one
email right now. GERARD: We are
expecting the Maltese authorities to coordinate the rescue but we are very
close to Lampedusa just 13 nautical miles away. |
11:25 |
Gerard
interview |
ERIC CAMPBELL,
Reporter: Looks like nobody wants them. GERARD: No. That is
what usually happens. They don't really want to take care of
these people. On other occasions we've seen how they delay to send boats to
rescue these people, and in the end they capsize and we have some casualties. |
11:41 |
Savvas
and Gerard on bridge waiting for reply from Malta |
Music |
12:01 |
|
GERARD: One hour has
passed and we don't have any new information. Can you update us? |
12:07 |
|
LAMPEDUSA RADIO: I
don't have news for you. Email to Malta Emergency. |
12:11 |
|
GERARD: Sir, Maltese
authorities are not responding. I don't know what else should we do? LAMPEDUSA RADIO: You
must wait for the response. GERARD: Yes
sir, we have been doing nothing but waiting. |
12:18 |
Migrant
boat, dawn |
Music |
12:37 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Close to dawn, with no response from Malta, Italy
blinks. ITALIAN COASTGUARD: Astral, Astral, |
12:41 |
Savvas
runs to answer radio |
do you receive? Italian Coastguard, Italian Coastguard. |
12:47 |
|
SAVVAS: Italian
Coastguard, Italian Coastguard, this is Astral, Astral. ITALIAN COASTGUARD: One hour and 20
minutes. SAVVAS: Yes, okay.
Rendezvous in one hour and 30 minutes. ITALIAN COASTGUARD: Okay, perfect. See
you. |
12:55 |
Migrant
boat, dawn. Italian coastguard arrives |
|
13:18 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: The Italian
Coastguard capitulates and transfers the migrants to its rescue vessel. It's
obliged by international law to rescue boats in distress, but the Italian
government is trying to stop any boats getting this far. It's funding the
Libyan Coastguard to intercept boats and force them back. |
13:24 |
Oscar
watching coastguard rescue |
OSCAR: They're quietly giving creditability
through trade and other deals, to militias that they happen to call
coastguards. |
13:50 |
Archive.
Libyan coastguard shooting at boat |
MAN: They're shooting! WOMAN: Yeah they're shooting. |
14:03 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: In July, a rescue NGO
filmed a Libyan Coastguard ship firing at migrants who refused to stop. |
14:05 |
|
WOMAN:
So called Libyan Coastguard, what
you do is very dangerous. Over. MAN: Look how close! ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: The Italians have
provided Libya with 16 ships. |
14:12 |
Coastguard
departs |
The EU border agency Frontex even trains their
crews. |
14:30 |
Empty
migrant boat |
Often people chancing this journey
aren't just escaping war or poverty. Increasingly, they're trying to escape
Libya itself, |
14:40 |
Eric
to camera |
because tens of thousands who've
tried to cross from there have been held in detention camps, often run by the
militias. A UN report says they suffer unimaginable horrors: gang rapes,
starvation, beatings, torture, even death. Now, the UN is very clear, it's
illegal to send these migrants back to Libya, but that is now the official
policy of some European countries. Pushing them back to what could be more
unimaginable horrors. |
14:49 |
Irene
interview |
IRENE:
What Europe and the European Union is doing to these people, it's disgusting.
It's totally awful. It's something that we cannot admit. And I think as long
as I can do something for them, I'm going to do it. |
15:19 |
Morning.
Crew getting ready again |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: It's been a
stressful first night for the rescuers. But any thoughts of resting are soon
dispelled. |
15:38 |
Another
migrant boat approaches |
The boats keep on coming. MAN
IN BOAT: Lampedusa? Lampedusa? |
15:46 |
Eric
to camera |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Well this is extraordinary. It's just three
hours since the coastguard picked up the last boat. And out of nowhere, this
boat has just appeared. The crew has had no sleep. |
15:56 |
Yet
another boat appears |
Moments later, another boat appears on the
horizon. |
16:05 |
Albert
and Irene in speedboat to migrant boat |
Music |
16:11 |
|
ALBERT: Hello. How many people? MAN: There are 73. SAVVAS: Lampedusa, this is
Astral. |
16:20 |
Albert
and Irene hand out lifejackets |
ALBERT: Everyone sit down. Everyone sit down. Sit
down. Everyone sit down. |
16:32 |
Savvas
on radio |
SAVVAS: Lampedusa Radio, I read you loud and
clear. I have one wooden boat, with more than 70 people on the deck. LAMPEDUSA
RADIO: Okay, we are going there but
please stay here, so if we need we can ask for your help. |
16:53 |
Italian
coastguard arrives |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: This time the Italians
seem happy to give a hand, is that unusual? |
17:13 |
Oscar
interview |
OSCAR: They have no other option but to work with
us. We are encouraging them to follow international maritime law. This must
be done and we're demanding they do it. We don't know if they'd be doing this
if we weren't there to bear witness. |
17:20 |
Oscar
on radio |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Oscar's passion
was ignited by the Syrian refugee crisis of 2015, when thousands drowned
trying to cross from Turkey to Greece. |
17:46 |
Photos.
Syrian refugees trying to get to Greece |
He flew to the island of Lesbos with no equipment
to see how he could help. As a lifeguard he was shocked to see there was no
coordinated rescue, just chaos. |
17:59 |
|
OSCAR:
When you see them and
touch them, you see that there are children, women, families, there are
husbands, there are stories, there is a future. How could we let them die? |
18:17 |
Drone
shots of boats on calm sea |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: The millpond sea is
proving a magnet for crossings; ever more boats competing for limited rescue
resources. In the blur of constant rescues, one call cuts through. MOHAMED:
Bambino, bambino. Baby, baby is no
good. Come here, please. Please help me. Please. |
18:33 |
Eric
listens to distress call. |
ERIC CAMPBELL,
Reporter: The distress call is from a man called
Mohamed who claims he's a fisherman. |
19:01 |
Gerard
on radio |
GERARD: Okay, Mohamed, we are very close to your
position. Very near you. |
19:06 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: He says he's found a boat
with nine people, including five children and a very sick baby. |
19:13 |
Cristina
prepares medical treatment room |
CRISTINA: Put in the blood pressure monitor,
there's one for a baby. ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: The crew's volunteer
nurse, Cristina Esteban sets up an emergency treatment post in the cabin. |
19:24 |
Rescue
team head out and approach boat |
The prospect of a dying child shakes them all.
Cristina goes out with the crew to administer first aid. They arrive to find
a very different scene from the one described. |
19:33 |
|
CRISTINA:
When we arrived, the conditions were fine, the baby was crying, the colour was
normal, everything was alright. |
20:10 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Not only is the
baby in good health, the boat is less crowded, the migrants have more provisions
than any we've seen. It appears Mohamed is not a fisherman but a smuggler,
offering a fake emergency to guarantee pickup as part of the service. |
20:21 |
Rescue
team escort boat to coastguard |
The crew escorts the boat to the coastguard. If
they're angry at being played, they don't show it. |
20:41 |
Gerard
interview |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Does it get frustrating
when you get these very dramatic messages that may be just to make sure they
get rescued? |
20:48 |
|
GERARD: No, it is much better. So I prefer to
work for nothing instead of doing the opposite. |
20:56 |
Family
on to coastguard boat |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Rescues
like this fuel criticism that NGO boats act as a pull factor for migrants and
traffickers. |
21:02 |
|
GERARD:
Our
presence at sea doesn't increase the number of people fleeing. People fleeing
don't consider if there is or isn't a humanitarian organisation within the
vast area of the Mediterranean. |
21:13 |
Dolphin |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: The figures back
him up. So far this year there there's been big rise in migrants crossing
even while no NGOs were operating. The difference was |
21:29 |
Boats
on calm sea |
almost a thousand people drowned, more than twice
the previous year. |
21:41 |
Sails
unfurling |
Music |
21:50 |
|
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: The wind picks up and for
the first time the Astral is in full sail. A storm is brewing down south.
Oscar Camps worries what it might mean for small boats at sea. |
22:00 |
Astral
under sail |
OSCAR: Already there have been over 250 people
killed this month. |
22:27 |
Oscar
interview |
One hundred more than the same month in 2020. ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: These deaths affect you, don't they? |
22:33 |
|
OSCAR:
Of course. We have to do what we are doing, rescue as many people as we can
and denounce what's happening. |
22:40 |
Astral
anchored in cove |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: We anchor off Lampedusa
to wait out the storm. |
22:48 |
Sicily
tourism GVs |
It's a chance for me to
jump ship and see what life is like for migrants who make it to shore. The
island is teeming with Italian tourists. |
22:56 |
Migrants
being offloaded at marina |
But the arrival of
migrants is kept out of view of the public.
They'll be transferred to detention camps on the main island of Sicily
for processing. Almost all will apply for asylum, seven out of ten will be
rejected. |
23:16 |
Drone
shots. Palermo |
Music |
23:44 |
Palermo
street GVs/Eric walks with Abdlay |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: In
the capital, Palermo, Abdlay Jatta has lived in limbo for five years. He left
the grinding poverty of Gambia to provide for his family, eventually reaching
Libya in search of work. |
23:52 |
Abdlay
interview |
ABDLAY: I
saw three of my friends get murdered. That's when I decided to go to a safe
place to live, so that's where I got the idea of Italy. |
24:10 |
Abdlay
walks on street |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: He crossed the Mediterranean by boat but was
denied residency and survives by doing low-paid labour that Italians won't
do. |
24:29 |
Abdlay
interview |
So
what would you tell young people now in Gambia? Would you tell them to try
and make this trip to Europe? ABDLAY: No. I would say, just stay in Gambia. Just stay there.
Even though there is poverty. |
24:43 |
Batch
walking |
Music |
25:04 |
|
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Fellow Gambian
Batch Mballow also struggled as an undocumented worker. BATCH: It's
very difficult to live here without documents. You have to get a job before
you get documents. And now, |
25:09 |
Batch
interview |
you
don't get job because you don't have documents. This is obviously, it's
ridiculous. |
25:24 |
Batch
walking |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: But with the help
of migrant advocates, Batch has managed to enrol in a public college. So what are you studying now? |
25:31 |
Batch
interview |
BATCH: I'm studying
nursing. When I finish
my studies, I would like
to go back to my country because they need people like us. |
25:42 |
Abdlay
on rocks looking out to sea |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Both
men despair at the number of people still risking their lives for an
impossible dream. |
25:57 |
|
ABDLAY: Poverty makes people take these risks. The best thing would be to
stay in your country and trust in Allah to provide until you can go to
Europe. |
26:05 |
Batch
on rocks looking out to sea |
BATCH: When I saw the sea there are things that I think about.
The sea turned to be a graveyard because people like me they wanted to come
and study, they want to come and learn but they lost their lives. |
26:23 |
Drone
shots ocean |
ERIC
CAMPBELL, Reporter: Italy's
tough line has failed to stop migrants risking their lives. |
26:45 |
Astral.
Night. Lowering speedboat |
|
27:02 |
|
ALBERT: We found the little boat. |
27:13 |
Group
of young people on boat from Tunisia |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Back on the Astral, the
crew comes across group of youths and unaccompanied minors from Tunisia, all
hoping they're coming to a better world. Three days
earlier, a presidential coup plunged their country into chaos. |
27:19 |
|
KID: We have three
children and they're sick, sir. Sir, the kids are sick. |
27:38 |
Albert
hands out life jackets |
GERARD: They're very
close to taking water. ALBERT: Sit down! Hey!
The boat is moving, it's dangerous. So sit down everyone. A boat is coming. KID: Do we wait here
sir? |
27:45 |
|
ALBERT: Yeah you wait
here. KID: But sir, the
children, the children is not good, they are sick. ALBERT: Yeah, I know.
I will be here. KID: We stay with you? ALBERT: Yeah. |
27:57 |
|
KIDS: Thank you very
much. Thank you, sir. ALBERT: You're
welcome, man. |
28:10 |
Boat
starts to sink. Astral deploys life rafts |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: In the full moon, the swell is rising. Even after
the crew attaches a life buoy, the boat is slowly sinking. |
28:16 |
|
GERARD:
They're now taking on water, and they've got water and gasoline in the
bilge. We see
that the boat was very small, over-crowded and banking water. People was
really in danger, so that's why we decide to take this action and put a life
raft at sea. Now we have these 17 people onboard this life raft. We are waiting for Lampedusa and Malta to take responsibility on this
case. |
28:31 |
Eric
to camera on Astral |
ERIC CAMPBELL, Reporter: Well, it's 4:00 AM and we've been towing the life raft for about five
hours now. As usual, the Italian's have been saying, "Call the
Maltese," and the Maltese haven't been answering. Not answering the
radio, not taking phone calls, not replying to two emails. This is the Search
and Rescue Authority. It's bizarre. |
29:08 |
Oscar
and Eric watch from Astral |
Just before dawn the Italian coastguard finally
arrives. After
two weeks at sea, it is time for Open Arms to head home to resupply. On this 83rd mission it's conducted 15 rescue
operations, helping 398 migrants. Oscar Camps insists they will keep going out while
there are lives to be saved. |
29:33 |
Oscar
on Astral |
OSCAR:
I think
that nothing is more important than to protect life at sea. In international
waters, saving lives is not a crime. Protecting life is not a crime. It is a
duty. |
30:01 |
Credits
[see below] |
Music
|
30:18 |
Out
point |
|
30:47 |
REPORTER
Eric Campbell
PRODUCER
Brietta Hague
CAMERA
Mikel Konate
EDITOR
Nikki Stevens
ASSISTANT
EDITOR
Tom Carr
STILLS
PHOTOGRAPHY
Santi Palacios
GRAPHICS
Andrés
Gómez Isaza
SENIOR
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Michelle Roberts
PRODUCTION
CO-CORDINATOR
Victoria Allen
ARCHIVAL
RESEARCH
Michelle Boukheris
DIGITAL
PRODUCER
Matt Henry
SUPERVISING
PRODUCER
Lisa McGregor
THANKS
TO
Fausto Melluso
Executive
Producer
Matthew Carney
abc.net.au/foreign
©
2021 Australian Broadcasting Corporation