A medical team of the Order of Malta’s Italian Relief Corps has just now boarded the Coast Guard ship Dattilo to assist those migrants who will shortly be transferred from the Acquarius vessel. Dr. Maria Rita Agliozzo and nurse Marika Giustiniani will provide healthcare to migrants picked up by the NGO search and rescue ship SOS Méditerranée.

As soon as operations permit it, the Dattilo and a Navy ship will accompany Aquarius to the port of Valencia, in Spain.

It was late yesterday afternoon that the Coast Guard authorities decided to step up its health services. A few hours later, the Order of Malta’s health professionals arrived in Pozzallo, where they embarked to reach international waters between Malta and Sicily, where the vessel with 629 migrants is blocked. Maria Rita Agliozzo and Marika Giustiniani have a long experience of medical emergencies at sea between Libya and Italy on board the Coast Guard’s ships.

Since 2008, the Order of Malta’s Italian Relief Corps has been providing medical assistance on board the Coast Guard patrol vessels and has also some teams operative on the island of Lampedusa, from where the ships leave to reach the targets signalled by IMRCC (Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre) of the Rome Coast Guard.