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Mainz (dpa / lrs) - The Mainz association for poverty and health in Germany has entered into a partnership with a Hamburg initiative for refugees in the Mediterranean.
"It is very important for us to set an example in civilian sea rescue," said the founder and chairman of the association, the Mainz social medicine specialist Gerhard Trabert.
"We are the first in Rhineland-Palatinate to have such a dense network in civilian sea rescue."
The association supports the Resqship initiative financially and with the provision of medical equipment.
Trabert was already involved in one of nine Resqship missions in the Mediterranean in 2019.
The sailing yacht "Josefa" rescued 34 refugees in late summer, who were then taken over by the "Ocean Viking", a ship chartered by the aid organizations Doctors Without Borders and SOS Mediterranee.
Now Resqship has a new ship, an 18-meter-long steel schooner, which is currently being overhauled and so far has no name.
With its construction and robustness, this ship is ideally suited for use on the high seas, explained Resqship.
It is expected to sail towards the Libyan coast under the German flag in May.
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"I'll try to be there on the first trip," said Trabert in an interview with the German press agency.
Above all, the mission should document the situation off the Libyan coast, outside the 20-mile zone.
If people are in need, the Resqship team will also take them in until a larger ship arrives.
A supply for a long time is hardly possible on the small ship.
The team of six to eight crew members will also be in contact with the network of other sea rescuers, with groups such as Open Arms, Sea Watch and Alan Kurdi.
With the “Sea-Watch 2”, Trabert was twice deployed in the Mediterranean in 2015 and 2016 to provide medical care to rescued boat refugees.
"It is very important for us that we have medical equipment and medical staff on board," said a spokesman for the Resqship association, which was founded in 2017 and is supported by four local groups in Mainz, Freiburg, Augsburg and Hamburg.
The admission of refugees in distress is not the primary goal of the observation mission.
But it would be negligent not to be able to provide professional help to people in need.
The Association for Poverty and Health also supported the project in developing a hygiene concept for the safety of the people on board.
"We do not want to put ourselves in the foreground, but want to tell the stories of people who are in need in the Mediterranean," said the spokesman.
Therefore, as with «Josefa», the name of the new ship will be reminiscent of a person fleeing in the Mediterranean.
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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210325-99-961165 / 2
Resqship
Poverty and Health in Germany