CIVILIAN refugee rescuers have saved the lives of more than 400 people in just 72 hours in the central Mediterranean — with no help from the European maritime authorities.

The activist-run emergency hotline organisation Alarm Phone alerted the crew of the Sea-Eye 4 to 50 people in need of rescue on Friday as they reached the Libyan search-and-rescue (SAR) zone.

All they found, however, was an empty wooden boat missing its motor, Kai Echelmeyer, a spokesman for the German charity Sea-Eye, which operates the ship, told the Star today.