Late last month, during a night fishing trip off the coast of Libya, the captain of the fishing boat, Carlo Giartano, heard desperate cries for help. These were the screams of 50 illegal immigrants on board a boat that ran out of fuel and began to seep into the water. The 36-year-old Sicilian man did not think twice, offering Tuo all his food and drink. While calling his father Gasper on the ground to coordinate relief efforts, Carlo waited for about 24 hours until the Italian Coast Guard arrived and eventually brought the migrants to Sicily. Such work was likely to lead him to jail or face a fine, but he did not care about this humanitarian appeal.

Carlo's news spread all over the world, not only generous and pleasant but brave. Since the right-wing interior minister, Mathieu Salveni, closed Italian ports in the face of immigrant rescue ships, both the captain and his father knew that such an act could result in a fine or long-term imprisonment. But they say that if they do the same thing again, they will do it again and again.

Saving lives

"No sailor will return to the port without making sure he saved those lives," says Carlo, whose family has been in the Mediterranean for four generations. "If I ignore those screams that ask for help, I will have no audacity then To face the sea again ». In June, Rome passed a new bill, prepared by Salvini again, which punishes the rescue boats of a non-governmental organization transporting migrants to Italy without permission for fines of up to 50,000 euros, with the possible imprisonment of crew members.

"I would lie if I said I did not realize that such work would end up in prison when I saw that the boat was in trouble," he says. "But at the same time I know perfectly well that torture of conscience is worse than imprisonment, I would remain obsessed with my death, and perhaps even after it, when I remember those who scream desperately for help." It was three in the morning when Giaradano and his crew identified the boat in the waters between Malta and Libya. The migrants had left Libya the day before, but their boat was having great difficulty.

Need for food

"We gave them water to wash the water from their boat, we had little food and water, but they needed it more than we did," he says. "Then we told the authorities, I told them I would not leave until the last safe immigrant left, We sailors, if there are people at risk in the sea, we rescue them without asking where they came from or what color their skin.

Malta was the closest country in the European Union to immigrants, but the Maltese Coast Guard apparently did not respond to the distress call. Hours passed and the heat became unbearable. On land, Gaspier asked Carlo to wait while he was communicating with the press. He was also working to protect his son.

"I wonder if one of our politicians has heard desperate screams asking for help on the high seas this night," he says. "What would they do?" A patrol boat arrived at the Italian Coast Guard after about 24 hours and the migrants were transferred to Sicily, where they left after a few days. "They did not have life jackets or food. The fuel ran out and their boat was about to sink in a few hours. If someone decided to cross the sea under these conditions, he was definitely going to die," says Carlo. Carlo arrived in Chaka the following day, and was welcomed by the residents of the city and the Italian press. Gaspier was there too, eager to embrace his son. He says he does not want to be a hero, he only did his duty. "When the migrants settled safely on the Coast Guard, they all turned to us with a gesture of gratitude and hands on their hearts. This is the picture I will carry with me the rest of my life, which will help me face the sea every day without feeling sorry. "

• Carlo's news spread all over the world, not only generous and pleasant, but courageous.