Valletta, Malta. Onboard the MOAS ship. October 2014 It was a great honor to meet and interview Chris and Regina Catrambone on the Phoenix - a 40 meter ship they acquired last year to run their Migrant Offshore Aid Ship (MOAS) operation. They set up this privately-funded project to help rescue and aid the growing human migrant traffic that is pouring out of North Africa, Gaza and Syria. Together with an 18 specialist hand-picked crew from 11 different countries, the team have so far transferred over 2,000 desperate refugees from flimsy boats onto Italian coastguard ships in the vast Mediterranean sea. Chris Catrambone, (originally from Lake Louise in Louisiana) and his Maltese wife, Regina describe themselves as entrepreneurs, humanitarians and adventurers. Without their tunnel-visoned dedication, money and time focusing on this critical issue, many of the migrants may well have not survived these dangerous journeys from the war-zones from where many of the boats originated. Other than employing 3 ex-Maltese Naval officials who are experienced in maritime communications and law, the Catrambones enlisted a team of 3 Austrian drone engineers and operators to spot and monitor these cramped rubber migrant boats- many of which are not detectable on conventional radar. We are able to see them from high quality cameras that we have on the drones. We then inform the coastguards who instruct us the next steps, which usually means transferring them to the coastguard ships within a day or two. Usually we take them all onboard and administer health checks and provide food and water, says Chris who has previously spent years in the insurance business of conflict areas with Tangiers - a busy multi-national dedicated to emergency assistance and intelligence in these volatile areas of the world. It helps me having seen first-hand the many of the problems these people are dealing with in these conflict areas and why they have to flee... and this is part of what drove us to do this here in Malta but we do this only to help in the humanitarian aspect and for no financial gain. Regina Catrambone showed me the onboard surgery and explained Many of those we have picked up so far, have been in very bad shape so we have to be very responsive immediately we take the migrants onboard- which is usually in the hundreds each time. Many are de-hydrated and mal-nourished but we also have treated some with broken bones. We have a full-time volunteer doctor who coordinates the medical team. Of course we take all precautions- especially in light of the growing ebola problem. Tomorrow, October 15th, the boat will leave again on another 10 day mission - the last of the year. Its a very cloudy future as we have come to the end of our ability to completely self-finance MOAS for the time-being. We hope that official EU donors or private individuals might step up to help us as we are very keen to be back here next spring to start the season over once again. Whatever happens, with the current political unrest and imminent closure of Mare Nostrum (the Italian maritime organization dedicated to rescuing these immigrants) the situation is bleak for all concerned. Much of the European community is already stretched to the limit with this migration issue, much of it determined by a confused political strategy from within. The migrants themselves will continue to arrive as smugglers all over the Mediterranean respond to this ever-growing supply and demand chain. People like the Catrambones are only concerned with human well-being and I would not bet against them setting sail, once again, from Malta in mid- 2015. There is more information and a donation page on the link below. moas.eu #support #moas #migrants #aid #ship #malta #tunisia #libya #italy #humanitarian #help #immigration #policy #EU #MareNostrum Getty Images (photos GilesClarke/Reportage by Getty)
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 12:12:54 +0000
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