Croatian Navy is called into action once again to save immigrants entering the EU.
The crew of the Croatian Navy Ship Andrija Mohorovičić, which is taking part in a joint European Union humanitarian operation “Triton”, together with the Swedish Coast Guard Ship Poseidon rescued 476 migrants from a fishing boat, announced the Ministry of Defence, reports Jutarnji List on August 8, 2015.
The Swedish ship was boarded by 339 people, while the remaining 137 boarded the Croatian Navy Ship Andrija Mohorovičić. The ship is currently sailing to Sicily, and the port of disembarkation of the rescued migrants will be subsequently determined by the operational command.
Andrija Mohorovičić has already participated in one rescue of migrants in early August, when 37 people were pulled from the sea. The migrants were then transported to Sicily. The ship sailed in May from the port of Split, with 49 crew members and under the command of Lieutenant Commander Stjepan Giljević.
For the next three months, Croatian Navy will take part in the operations of finding and rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, and this rescue of migrants can be considered as a great success for the ship and its crew.
Ship Andrija Mohorovičić is a training ship built in the shipyard Stocznia Polnocna in Poland in 1971. It has been in service since 1972, and had served as a vessel for hydrographical research and as a floating laboratory of the State Hydrographical Institute. The ship is a part of the Croatian Navy since 1991. The ship has a length of 73.3 metres, width of 10.8 metres, and draft of 3.9 metres. The maximum speed is 17 knots.
