Wooden Boat

According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), more than 30,000 people have gone missing in the Mediterranean since 2014. Sea-Eye calls on the EU to take responsibility.

The number of people missing in the Mediterranean has now passed the 30,000 mark, according to the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project. Statistics show that almost 80 % of the missing are from the central Mediterranean. The most common cause of death is drowning. Many of the victims are children. In 2024 alone, more than 1,000 people went missing on the deadliest escape route.

“Instead of taking action against aid organisations, the European Union and its member states must finally face up to their responsibilities in the Mediterranean. At the moment, instead of tackling the causes of flight and ensuring safe escape routes, they are making our humanitarian work even more difficult: through detentions, the allocation of distant ports or stricter conditions for civilian rescue vessels. Court rulings such as the one in Reggio Calabria clearly show that the measures taken against our operations are an abuse of state power. The EU is now responsible for over 30,000 deaths in the Mediterranean. We finally need to move away from this brutal European border regime towards a migration policy based on human rights,” demands Gorden Isler, Chairman of Sea-Eye.

Between June 2023 and June 2024 alone, the SEA-EYE 4 was detained in Italy for a total of 120 days. The Regensburg-based organisation has already filed several lawsuits against the unlawful detention. On June 5th, the court in Reggio Calabria upheld a complaint by Sea-Eye and declared the 60-day administrative detention of the SEA-EYE 4 in March 2024 to be unlawful.

In response to the ongoing crisis in the Mediterranean Sea, Sea-Eye e.V. is sending a former all-weather lifeboat to the Mediterranean this year. Oscar-nominated actress Sandra Hüller christened the rescue ship, now named the SEA-EYE 5, on Monday.

Schiffstaufe SEA-EYE 5

The ship will set sail on its first life-saving mission in the Mediterranean later this year

On July 22th, Oscar-nominated actress Sandra Hüller together with Omorogbe Peter Obamwonyi, Maritime Crew Manager at Sea-Eye, named the all-weather lifeboat SEA-EYE 5 at a ceremony in the harbour of the Italian city of Ancona. The vessel operated under the name NIS RANDERS for the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (DGzRS) until 2020. As the civilian rescue ship SEA-EYE 5, it will come to the aid of people in distress at sea on the world’s deadliest escape route. Since 2014, almost 30,000 refugees have died in the Mediterranean.

“I wish this ship did not have to exist. I wish the governments of Europe and the world would finally realise that migration does not stop when they allow death on the migration routes. It will stop when they take responsibility for the suffering of people who leave their homes, caused by the arrogance and ignorance of the rest of the world and politics. I wish this ship the most peaceful of seas and thank the crew for their unfortunately necessary work. Bless this ship and the people on it,” explained Sandra Hüller.

Sandra Hüller

Omorogbe Peter Obamwonyi added: “Despite all the successes of recent years and the many lives saved, the hurdles in civil sea rescue are growing with illegal detentions repeatedly keeping us in port. Now, with the additional rescue vessel SEA-EYE 5, we are confident that we have more power to do what we do best and are proud of doing – saving lives.”

Sandra Hüller und Omorogbe Peter Obamwonyi

The purchase price of around 465,000 euros was financed by a fundraising campaign organised by United4Rescue, a broad alliance in support of civilian sea rescue with over 900 partners initiated by the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). Sandra Bils, board member of United4Rescue, said in her speech:

“We are overwhelmed by how many people have donated to the all-weather lifeboat in such a short space of time. The willingness to donate shows: We will not turn a blind eye when European countries allow people in need of protection to drown in the Mediterranean. Together we are taking a stand against the deadly isolationist policies and sending the SEA-EYE 5 as the fourth Alliance ship to the Mediterranean!”

Sandra Bils

A sickbay will be set up on board to treat medical emergencies. Its equipment and operation will be made possible by Sea-Eye’s long-standing partner organisation German Doctors. Managing Director Dr Christine Winkelmann emphasised at the celebrations:

“For us, it is a human rights obligation to help people in need and provide them with medical care – whether on land or at sea. Our doctors continue to report immense suffering: traumatised people, hypothermic and dehydrated with various injuries. They have often been through the worst before they come on board the rescue ship. The conditions are unbearable. Through the voluntary work of experienced on-board doctors and the entire medical team, we are trying to make the right to medical care a reality, even in these adverse circumstances.”

Dr. Christine Winkelmann

SEA-EYE 5 was built in 1990 and belongs to the 23.3 meter class, a series of seven DGzRS lifeboats. Until 2018, it was stationed off Maasholm on the coast of Schleswig-Holstein and was operated by the DGzRS without a fixed base for a further two years. The all-weather lifeboat has been overhauled and modernised and will soon set off on its first mission in the Central Mediterranean.

In order to cover the annual budget of the SEA-EYE 5, Sea-Eye is currently looking for 3,000 monthly donors to ensure the operation of the all-weather lifeboat. The conversion of the ship, the first missions, and part of the long-term financing are secured by two long-term loans from GLS Bank and a crowd campaign from its cooperation partner, GLS Crowd.

Rettung SEA-EYE 4

After one of the rescue operations, the so-called Libyan coastguard repeatedly tried to intimidate the crew of the civilian rescue vessel

During three operations on July 16th and 17th, 2024, the SEA-EYE 4 rescued a total of 31 people from distress at sea: At around five in the morning on Tuesday, the rescue ship’s crew spotted and evacuated three people in a small wooden fishing boat, which had neither life-saving equipment nor modern navigation equipment. While waiting for instructions from the Italian authorities, the crew spotted another wooden boat in distress around midday and rescued 20 people, including a mother and her baby. The following day, early in the afternoon, the SEA-EYE 4 responded to a distress call from an aircraft that had spotted a fibreglass boat with eight people in distress and also brought them to safety.

“Some of those rescued are in poor health, and a few are in critical condition. These people need medical attention as soon as possible. It is an imposition on them that we have again been assigned such a distant port,” says Ayesha Sattar, on-board doctor on the SEA-EYE 4 for German Doctors e.V.

Shortly after the second rescue on July 16th, the so-called Libyan coastguard arrived and tried to intimidate the crew of the SEA-EYE 4:

“After we had rescued the people, the so-called Libyan coastguard set fire to the empty boat and circled us twice with sirens blaring. They asked us to leave the area – even though they are not legally authorised to do so in international waters – and followed us for a long time. This is a clear intention to intimidate us and to cause more distress to people already in a vulnerable situation. These actions have nothing to do with assisting people in distress at sea”, says Julie Schweickert, head of mission on board the SEA-EYE 4, describing the situation.

The so-called Libyan Coast Guard intercepts refugees in the Mediterranean and returns them to civil war-torn Libya. It is funded in part by the European Union. UN experts have already accused the EU of aiding and abetting the crimes of the so-called Libyan coastguard.

The so-called Libyan coastguard repeatedly acts in an extremely aggressive and violent manner, which has already led to the death of people. In Libya, refugees are threatened with imprisonment in so-called detention camps, where they are subjected to serious human rights violations.

The Italian authorities have ordered the SEA-EYE 4 to disembark the survivors at the port of Ortona, in the province of Chieti. In doing so, the authorities are accepting that the SEA-EYE 4 will have to travel a long way and will be absent from the area of operation for days at a time when its rescue capabilities are urgently needed. The rescue vessel is expected to arrive in port on Saturday evening.

Disembarkation SEA-EYE 4

The civilian rescue ship of the Regensburg-based organisation Sea-Eye e.V. has returned directly to the area of operation.

Around noon on Thursday (July 11th, 2024), 174 survivors on board the SEA-EYE 4 – including a mother and her baby – reached the port of Genoa. The people had been rescued in the Mediterranean on Sunday and Monday. During those two days, the vessel saved 231 people in distress in a total of 5 operations. The people rescued on the last operation were handed over to the Italian coastguard on Monday. For the remaining 174 survivors, the Italian authorities have designated Genoa – some 600 nautical miles from the operation area – as a port of safety.

“The three days it took us to reach Genoa were three more strenuous days on the Mediterranean for the weakened survivors. We are glad that we were finally able to bring them to safety. The fact that we carried out so many rescues in such a short time has shown one thing above all: We are desperately needed on site. That’s why it was important for us to lose as little time as we could and to return to the area of operation as quickly as possible,” says Ayesha Sattar, on-board doctor on the SEA-EYE 4 for German Doctors e.V.

At 9:30 p.m., just a few hours after SEA-EYE 4 arrived in Genoa, the vessel left the port to return to the area of operation. It is expected to arrive there early next week.

Rettungseinsatz SEA-EYE 4

The survivors included a mother with her baby and a woman nine months pregnant.

At noon on Sunday (July 7th 2024), the crew of the civilian rescue ship SEA-EYE 4 responded to a distress call provided by Alarmphone and evacuated 46 people from a rubber boat in distress. A few hours later, the vessel received another Alarmphone message. This time, the RESQSHIP sailing vessel NADIR was first on the scene, stabilized the unseaworthy rubber boat, which was losing air and partially filled with water, distributed life jackets and secured 22 people on life rafts, including a mother and her baby. When SEA-EYE 4 arrived around 7 p.m., it picked up all 60 survivors. At 2 a.m. on July 8th, the rescue vessel reached a fiberglass boat and rescued another 10 people. On Monday morning, the crew, together with the crew of the NADIR, brought a total of 58 people to safety on board of the SEA-EYE 4 from an overcrowded wooden boat that had already taken on water. The operation was completed at 7 a.m. Shortly after noon, the vessel found another rubber boat in distress and rescued 57 people, including a heavily pregnant woman. 

“Five rescues in 24 hours: That shows the state of emergency in the Mediterranean at the moment – and how important it is that we are there to save lives. But by sending civilian rescue ships to distant ports – we have to calculate six days for the journey to and from Genoa alone – we are losing valuable time in the search and rescue zone, during which we cannot help people in need. This policy can have fatal consequences for people seeking protection,” says Gorden Isler, Chairman of Sea-Eye e.V.

“We had a pregnant woman on board who needed urgent medical attention. Many of those rescued have spent days in the Mediterranean and are weakened and severely dehydrated. Some are suffering from fuel burns, chemical burns that occur when gasoline mixes with seawater and then comes into contact with human skin,” adds Ayesha Sattar, on-board doctor on the SEA-EYE 4 for German Doctors e.V.

Following the instructions of the Italian authorities, the SEA-EYE 4 has handed over the people rescued during the last operation to the Italian Coast Guard. The vessel is now on its way to the port of Genoa, about 600 nautical miles away, where it is expected to arrive on July 11th. There, the people from the first four operations will be allowed to leave the rescue ship.