A hug worth a thousand words
When two days ago the Spanish frigate REINA SOFIA’s crew sat sail for the first time has part of EUNAVFOR MED operation Sophia 
’s Task Force, they would have never imagined what happened yesterday, 26 May 2016: a date they will never forget.
The Luxemburgish aircraft SW3 Merlin III was patrolling International Waters of the Libya coast when he spotted, 35 Nautical Miles North of Zuwarah, a sinking wooden vessel with approximately 100 people on board. The event was suddenly reported to the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre that requested EUNAVFOR MED Force Headquarters to intervene. While the Spanish frigate REINA SOFIA was heading maximum speed towards the reported position, the Spanish air force aircraft VIGMA D-4 was tasked to take off from Sigonella airbase in order to quickly reach the wooden vessel and drop off life jackets and life boats waiting for the arrival of naval units.
After an entire day of intense rescue operations at sea, the Spanish frigate had saved 206 migrants, of which 77 from the sinking vessel and 129 from another rubber boat.
In the meanwhile, 500 more migrants where also rescued by FRONTEX Agency’s operation TRITON and Italian Coast Guard’s assets all of them transferred on board REINA SOFIA before the sunset.
A though start for the Spanish frigate now heading towards Taranto harbour with 706 migrants and a deeper belief: we are here to stop the human smugglers and traffickers and avoid such kind of events happen again.
EUNAVFOR MED operation SOPHIA, launched on the 22nd of June 2015, has entered its second phase last October 7th. Thus far the Operation has contributed to save more than 14800 people while 71 people have been reported to the Italian Authorities as possible smugglers and 127 vessels have been removed from illegal organizations’ availability.