A U.S. destroyer helped rescue 97 migrants adrift on a packed raft in the Mediterranean Sea on Friday.
A boat crew from the destroyer Carney provided food and water to the 96 men and one woman on the gray raft, which was without propulsion, until a ship arrived to escort the migrants to safety. The Mediterranean is a primary transit route for migrants bound for Europe that are fleeing violence in Africa and the Middle East.
Carney coordinated with the SOS Mediterranee ship MS Aquarius, which transported the migrants to safety, 6th Fleet said in a Saturday release.
“Seeing the plight of these desperate migrants and the danger they were in was humbling,” Cmdr. Kenneth Pickard, the Carney commanding officer, said in the release. “As Sailors we make our living on the high seas. We were honored to help these 97 people to safety.”
Carney is forward-deployed to Rota, Spain, and is patrolling with the Wasp Amphibious Ready Group, which in recent days has been supporting U.S. strikes against ISIS in Libya.
