ROME -- Flavio Insinna, well-known Italian actor and television presenter, has donated his boat to the humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières, an MSF press release has announced. Famous for hosting Affari Tuoi, the Italian version of 'Deal or No Deal', between 2006 and 2008, Insinna decided to donate his 14.8m long craft 'Roxana' to MSF in support of their rescue and assistance activities for migrants crossing the sea towards Europe.

 "We are very grateful to Flavio Insinna for this generous gesture and for wanting to support our action along migration crossing routes," said director-general of MSF Gabriele Eminente. "Along with our operative centres we are assessing how best to use this important donation in support of the medical-humanitarian activities of MSF at sea, where still today thousands of people fleeing conflict and poverty continue to risk - and even lose - their lives in search of security in Europe."

 In a press release the organisation stated that "the levels of MSF action in migration towards Europe have tripled. In 2015 MSF carried out over 100,000 medical and psychological consultations - on research and rescue ships and on projects in Greece, Italy and the Balkans - and rescued 23,747 people at sea. In Greece, MSF provides assistance at sea to incoming refugees and migrants - over 62,000 since the beginning of the year of which at least 272 lost their lives during the crossing - and on land it offers medical treatment, protection, hygiene services and essential goods to the island of Dodecanesco as well as Lesbo and Samo."

 Founded in 1971, MSF was formed by a group of French doctors who had worked in Biafra during the Nigerian Civil War but had been critical of the Nigerian government and the Red Cross, also present in the country, for their apparent complicity in the conflict. Now the organisation is best known for its projects in war zones and developing countries facing endemic diseases, and more recently for its medical support both in refugee camps and in migration routes.

 Insinna, 50, dedicated his entire career to acting and television after initially trying unsuccessfully to get into the Carabinieri Corps. He made his debut as the presenter of Affari Tuoi, but was perhaps most popular for his role as captain of the Carabinieri Anceschi Flavio, which he played for five seasons on the hit television series Don Matteo RAI, alongside Terence Hill and Nino Frassica.