Merchantmen poorly suited for SAR ops
Merchant shipping was not equipped for or suited to assisting in the rescue of economic migrants and refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa, according to senior coast guard and search and rescue officials from the region.
Speaking at the International Search and Rescue Conference in Brighton last week Brig (Retd) Martin Xuereb, former commander of the Maltese armed forces and current director of the Migrant Offshore Aid Station, said that merchant ships were poorly suited to search and rescue operations.
‘The role of a merchant ship is to carry goods from A to B. They are
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