WARSAW: Polish merchant ship Żerań has saved 194 migrants, mainly from Ethiopia, trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea.
The vessel yawed in order to support the rescue effort undertaken by the Italian Navy on Sunday. Żerań approached a capsized boat filled with migrants and managed to save 81 men, eight women and 2 children. “It was the last moment [to take action],” Roman Woźniak, CEO of the ship owner Polskie Linie Oceaniczne told TVN24 broadcaster. Despite the effort, five people drowned.
In total, the Polish ship transported 194 asylum seekers to Catania, Sicily. It wasn’t the first time when Żerań rescued African migrants on the Mediterranean Sea. In April, it managed to save 90 people from a capsized boat.