At least 49 of the “most vulnerable survivors” were taken by the coastguard off the Louise Michel vessel around 12 hours after the ship’s leaders said they had called various authorities for help.
There had been 219 people on board, including 33 in a life raft deployed by its side and one corpse in a body bag, those involved with the vessel said.
The former French navy boat – launched under its new guise last week – was left stranded off the coast of Malta on Saturday morning, according to tweets posted from the vessel’s account.
The crew managed to keep #LouiseMichel stable for almost 12h now. Our new friends told us they lost 3 friends on their journey already. Including the dead body in our one life raft, that makes 4 lives vanished because of Fortress Europe... And we are still waiting. pic.twitter.com/Te2PKCv2Gn
— LouiseMichel (@MVLouiseMichel) August 29, 2020
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Those associated with the vessel, which features a Banksy painting depicting a young girl holding on to a heart-shaped safety float, said it could not safely move because of an overcrowded deck.
A series of calls for help to various authorities was made over the course of almost four hours on Friday evening, but calls had either gone unanswered or they were told there was no assistance available, a post on the Twitter account said.
In an update on Saturday afternoon, the vessel’s leaders said the Italian Coastguard had come to help, and that another rescue ship Sea-Watch 4 would “assist us doing what Europe falters to do”.
The tweet read: “Update: The Italian Coastguard took over 49 of the most vulnerable survivors! That’s great – & leaves us with the majority still waiting. By now, #SeaWatch4 arrived on scene & will assist us doing what Europe falters to do, having 201 guests on board themselves for days now…”
Earlier on Saturday, a video was posted to Banksy’s Instagram account showing the vessel at work.
It was accompanied by the words: “Like most people who make it in the art world, I bought a yacht, to cruise the Med.
“It’s a French navy vessel we converted into a lifeboat because EU authorities deliberately ignore distress calls from ‘non-Europeans’.”
The footage ended with the words All Black Lives Matter.
The vessel was bought with the proceeds of some of Banksy’s works and is captained by a professional crew with a “flat hierarchy and a vegan diet”.
The Guardian reported that the British street artist first made contact with Pia Klemp, an experienced captain of a number NGO boats, in September 2019 asking to help.
The project aims to help fill a void left by European authorities, who the organisers say are “leaving desperate people to drift helplessly at sea”.
The Louise Michel’s mission statement is “to uphold maritime law and rescue anyone in peril without prejudice”
