Episode 12: Stopped from saving lives by state bureaucracy

IN this episode we speak with Iñigo Mijangos, chairman of Humanitarian Maritime Rescue (SMH), the Basque NGO that operates the Aita Mari refugee rescue ship. Inigo spoke to us a day before the Aita Mari set sail for the central Mediterranean. The ship had been stuck in a kind of bureaucratic purgatory and was blocked from leaving port since its last rescue mission in June because the Spanish port authorities' tried to force it to comply with the wrong type of safety regulations. Inigo also tells us all about that, and how an out-of-date carton of jam was one of the reasons why the Italians blocked the ship from sailing last year. He also speaks on how and why SMH was set up, and about the organisation's work in Greece. ---Show notes--- For more on The Civil Fleet visit: civilfleet.com You can find a glossary of some of the terms used in this episode here: bit.ly/3lYbe9D Follow SMH on Twitter here: @maydayterraneo Or visit their website here: smh.eus/en/ Read our 2020 interview with Inigo here: bit.ly/3voosiY Get in touch: @FleetCivil [email protected] Support: patreon.com/civilfleet