Grizzlies’ Marc Gasol Helps Rescue Drowning Migrant Woman In Mediterranean Sea

Marc Gasol is more than sympathetic to the plight of immigrants, as he showed this past weekend.

Marc Gasol Saves African Migrant At Sea

On Sunday, the Spanish-born Memphis Grizzlies center helped save a Cameroonian migrant woman from drowning in the Mediterranean Sea. According to ESPN, the woman had survived a shipwreck.

Gasol, 33, assisted in the effort as a member of Spanish non-profit organization Proactiva Open Arms, which works to save refugees and immigrants from the Middle East and Africa who are attempting to reach Europe.

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“Frustration, anger, and helplessness. It’s unbelievable how so many vulnerable people are abandoned to their deaths at sea,” Gasol tweeted days later. “Deep admiration for these I call my teammates at this time @openarms_fund.” 

Gasol also described to The Guardian the feeble state of the woman, whom he said had been holding onto a fragment of wood for two days to survive. The woman was eventually carried onto a rescue ship approximately 90 miles off the coast of Libya.

According to data estimates from the United Nations, more than 1,400 migrants have died in 2018 by attempting to traverse the Mediterranean.

Several European countries like Italy — whose government has grown increasingly populist — have pledged to severely curb immigration, even to the point of denying refugees asylum. Human rights organizations and the U.N. have warned of the dangers these migrants could face if they are refused entry into new nations.

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Gasol and his fellow NBA star brother Pau help coordinate humanitarian efforts as part of their Gasol Foundation, which strives to assist underprivileged children around the world.