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Marc Gasol has spent part of the offseason helping rescue refugees who have become lost at sea

marc gasol
marc gasol

Brandon Dill/AP

  • Marc Gasol has been volunteering on a boat with an organization dedicated to rescuing refugees who are lost at sea. 

  • He recently helped rescue a migrant woman, an experience which left him feeling angry and compelled to speak out. 



Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol has undoubtedly put his NBA offseason to good use, as, according to a report in The Guardian, this past Sunday he helped rescue a migrant woman who had been lost at sea following a shipwreck. 

"There were pieces of wood and clothes floating in the water," Gasol told The Guardian. "Then there was that woman, with her elbows resting on a wooden beam. Her eyes were lost in the void. She was weak and in shock. She had been clinging to that piece of wood with her last bit of strength and had remained that way for 48 hours. I thought of this woman, of her strength. And I felt anger."

Gasol was crewing a rescue ship as part of volunteer work with the organization Proactiva Open Arms, which describes itself as, " . . . a non-governmental, non-profit organization whose main mission is to rescue refugees from the sea that arrive to Europe fleeing wars, persecution or poverty."  

Gasol later took to Twitter to vent his frustrations at the plight of refugees who are lost at sea. 

Tweet Embed:
//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1019319737308893184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Frustration, anger, and helplessness. It’s unbelievable how so many vulnerable people are abandoned to their deaths at sea.
Deep admiration for these I call my teammates at this time @openarms_fund pic.twitter.com/TR0KnRsrTE

In addition to rescuing the migrant woman, Gasol and the rest of the crew also recovered two bodies from the water, one of which was a toddler, and that affected Gasol profoundly. 

"I am a father. I have children. And I imagine the pain of a father who is forced to face a journey like this where one risks everything, one risks one’s own life, to reach a country where one can live in peace and with dignity," he told The Guardian. 

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