Children and pregnant women on board: SEA-EYE 5 urgently calls for a closer port of safety

Water shortage and worsening sea conditions increase pressure on board – crew again requests immediate assignment of a closer port of safety.

In the night from Monday to Tuesday, at around 00:00 a.m., the SEA-EYE 5 received an emergency call from Alarm Phone: an unseaworthy inflatable boat was in distress in the Tunisian–Maltese Search and Rescue zone. The crew immediately set course for the location.

When the SEA-EYE 5 reached the vessel, 26 people were on board, including several children as well as five women, two of them pregnant. All rescued individuals were frightened, exhausted, and hypothermic. The crew was able to bring all people safely on board.

Immediately after the rescue, weather conditions deteriorated significantly. The SEA-EYE 5 is currently exposed to strong winds and waves of up to 1.5 meters. Despite the critical situation and the particularly vulnerable people on board, the Italian authorities assigned Taranto as the designated port of safety – a transfer of approximately 48 hours.

“Everyone on board is completely exhausted. Many are suffering from severe seasickness, are hypothermic and have not had a safe place to rest for days. With increasing wind and rough seas, their condition is deteriorating dramatically.

Particularly alarming is the situation of the vulnerable people on board: children and five women, two of whom are pregnant, are suffering severely under the increasingly harsh and ongoing conditions at sea.

From a medical perspective, the situation is highly critical. Every additional hour at sea exposes the rescued people to further danger and unnecessarily exacerbates their suffering,” explains Vanessa Guidi from German Doctors, who leads the medical care on board the SEA-EYE 5.

In addition, the onboard water treatment system has stopped working. The crew is therefore deeply concerned about the remaining passage to Taranto. They have already requested four times that the Italian authorities assign a closer port of safety – so far without success.

Anna di Bari, board member of Sea-Eye, states: “The SEA-EYE 5 is a vessel ideally suited for search and rescue operations – but not for political games by the Italian authorities, in which a distant port is assigned without factual justification. This is about the safety of the crew and the rescued people on board. We therefore reiterate our urgent request to the competent authorities to assign a closer safe port.”

Update: On Thursday morning (21st May), all 26 survivors were able to disembark safely in Taranto.