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The journalist Valerio Nicolosi is aboard the ship of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms who has recovered in recent days the corpses of a woman and of A child off the coast The Libyan coast, and saved Josefa, the only survivor of the sinking. The ship has just sailed from Mallorca (Sunday 22 July). Here is his logbook for TPI.it NCO with open arms
Second day – Monday, July 23, 2018, at 17:40
We took the long wave and we took it We removed. The boat oscillates from left to right and vice versa with a constant to send to an expert marathoner
For the night this constant swing is pleasant because it is as if we were in a mega cradle and that Neptune rocked us d & # 39; A giant hand. But when you wake up everything is a bit more difficult and especially as we start to be serious, we prepare ourselves for the mission for which we have come up. ngo with open arms
Wake up a few minutes before 6. Me, my roommate Juan, an Argentinian photographer from Reuters who lives in Madrid, and Nicola Fratoianni, MP from LeU, we stand guard on the bridge with Riccardo, the first Argentine officer who works at sea for over 10 years
The situation is very calm, we are off Mallorca and in 20 hours we will be off Sardinia and from there we will aim to the south pbading near Tunisia and towards Libya
With the sunrise, we take advantage to take some pictures and discuss to avoid boredom. We talk about politics, about the climate of the cities in which we live, about the distant and distant stories that we have seen and experienced. We are also talking about the Libyan Coast Guard's statement accusing Open Arms of being an illegal organization, but especially of the situation we may encounter once arrived in the SAR zone, which is hard to imagine.
that open weapons have arrived in the SAR area, the situations have been different from each other and you can not have an idea of what, who and how we are going to meet him.
This also emerged in the medical briefing we did yesterday. Dr. Giovanna Scaccabarozzi. Depending on the source, the duration of the trip and the conditions under which it was treated, there are a number of potential diseases that people might have.
We understand that you are starting to become serious when Giovanna directs a series of photos taken during previous missions where the effects of scabies are visible, the most common burns of a chemical nature usually caused by diesel, up to a point where the effects of scabies are visible. to the rarest and most dangerous that you have never met but that we must know by precaution. [19659006Wemakeintegralpartoftheteamandilyauradesmomentswhichtheirfeatureoftheremeterandphotoproductsystemtoprovidemovement
At the briefing for newcomers there are 4: in addition to the doctor, me, Nicola Fratoianni and Riccardo Gatti. At a certain point, Perico, the second official, approaches and jokes: "It is the Spanish ship with the highest percentage of Italians on board!"
Indeed, we are 5 Italians. Me, the chef de mission Riccardo Gatti, Giovanna Scaccabarozzi Scaccabarozzi, the nurse Marina Buzzetti and Nicola Fratoianni, MP for LeU.
Giovanna and Marina are incredible. To talk to us, you feel that you have done little in life. The second graduate in political science, speaks Chinese, has spent six months in Beijing to improve the language and is an expert in Bangladesh and India. Then he decided to be a nurse and worked in the Lecco emergency room. "First aid is the best place to train," he says as we eat something. Marina embarked for 6 months on another humanitarian boat where she met Giovanna and since then they have become friends and companions in adventures.
Giovanna has been working in Angola for more than a year, in South Sudan, Pakistan, Nepal and in many other situations where a hand was needed as a doctor. During the information session, he tells us about the many landings in which he participated, the various diagnoses diagnosed and the importance of welcoming people before the professionals. ngo with open arms
Together with Marina, they took care of Josefa who was sleeping in Giovanna's bed in the infirmary. "What made her relax was foot mbadages," they tell me. Unfortunately, they had the thankless task of implementing the procedure for the lifeless bodies of the woman and the child. A white bag and ice to slow the decomposition
"The problem is to arrive in Spain and not in Italy, one is forced to surf a lot more hours and in these cases it 's the same. is really problematic. " open arms
Nicola is instead the secretary of the Italian left and MP for LeU. He is on board because with the other deputies of his party they decided to organize a relay aboard Open Arms to always guarantee an institutional "cover". He, like the others, is part of the crew and has the kitchen, the cleaning and the guard quarters.
Riccardo does not need to introduce it. One of the support nuclei of Open Arms, commander of the Astral and in this case as in others is the chef de mission. He coordinates everything there is to do. From training briefings to changes in media contacts.
All together, they are the Italian soul of this mission. Despite the closure of Italian ports, there are some who carry the flag of rescue on the roof
First day – Sunday, July 22, 2018, 17:30
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The ship of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms in Mallorca waiting to sail (Credit: Valerio Nicolosi)
If before I knew the staff at ground and crew of the Open Arms they showed me the boat I would have laughed and j & # 3 9 would have thought a joke, given the modest dimensions of the boat: 34 meters around the Open Arms, 30 meters from the Astral, the second ship that still travels alongside her sister.
was lucky. I landed at 8 am in Mallorca and before seeing the boat I could have a coffee with the crew that had just landed and talk about what had happened there a few days ago 180 miles from Libya.
Then, during the press conference, Oscar Camps, Marc Grisol and Erasmo Palazzotto explained to us how things had happened and that, for a few minutes, they had denounced the "Libyan Coast Guard" for failing and
Shortly after we had lunch together and there I had the opportunity to meet all the other members of the NGO, then to understand how much the thing, the number of specialists, the number of professionals were available [19659006WhenI'veivuunnavireethatipetitaulieuderirediridered:"IsEuropereallyafraidofwaterfishing?"AndthenbegantothinkandenthusiasmthatIhadknownthatthisfullthediscoveryofthesummarygreenframeworktohavebroughtapersontoameetinghoweverimportantwasthegroup'sgrandfather
Even the session with the Barcelona psychologists was interesting.
There was talk of how the crew was, how they reacted to what had happened and how each body had somatized this experience. More than a crew, I saw a family that shares everything: joys and sorrows. ngo with open arms
I have worked at sea but this environment is different. In the past, I have been on military ships, commercial vessels and those who build pipelines and platforms. But a bit 'for size (those started from 170 meters) and a bit'. for the formality with which the crew was moving, I saw how the two worlds were different. Here we help each other, everyone has to do everything. Volunteers, sailors, doctors and journalists: each relies on the teams that have been established, we are divided into groups of 4 people with different tasks such as cooking, cleaning, supervision and relief.
Astral has just started both from Barcelona because a piece of the ship has broken and needs a few days of repair. We leave for a new mission today
The SAR zone is very far from here, but with the closing of the Italian ports, there is no alternative. Morale is high, there have been alternations in certain roles and the time of greetings at sea is even more difficult than on land. Here you share everything, at 34 meters there are no secrets, isolated places. There is the sea and its sense of freedom, in some moments it is the only way to escape that the brain can have. But this time it's different, this calm sea often becomes the bad wolf, the monster that swallows people who are looking for a dignified life. ong open arms
This time we hope to find them alive and share these 34 meters with them
ung open arms
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