SEA-EYE 4 embarks on its first mission of the year

Municipalities and cities support Sea-Eye

On Friday morning (23.02.2024), the rescue ship SEA-EYE 4 departed from the Spanish port of Burriana on its first mission of the year. The ship has completed a regular maintenance interval there in recent weeks.

The first mission is supported by a municipal grant of €20,000 from the city of Osnabrück. Meanwhile, the city of Mannheim extended its municipal sponsorship of the SEA-EYE 4 and doubled the amount of funding from €5,000 to €10,000 per year. The city of Bern decided to support the Regensburg-based sea rescue organization Sea-Eye e.V. with 70,000 Swiss francs this year. Bern is thus the first city outside Germany to decide to sponsor a Sea-Eye ship and will hold an event in Bern on 27.02.2024.

“The support from the municipalities gives us great backing. We are very grateful for this. The municipal sponsorship is a concrete way out of an ongoing solidarity crisis. The municipalities make it clear that our humanitarian work continues to be supported by a broad social alliance,” says Gorden Isler, Chairman of Sea-Eye e.V.

The municipal funding contrasts with a law passed by the federal government in January. Experts recently explicitly warned that the Repatriation Improvement Act could criminalize and prosecute the rescue of unaccompanied children. Sea-Eye therefore wrote to the Federal Minister of Justice and the Federal Minister of the Interior this Wednesday asking for legal clarification.

The organizations Sea-Eye e.V. from Regensburg and German Doctors e.V. from Bonn have decided to continue their cooperation this year. This marks the fourth year of cooperation between the two organizations. “On the first mission of the SEA-EYE 4 this year, our German Doctor Gerd Klausen will work with colleagues from the medical crew on board to ensure the health of those rescued in the Mediterranean. We are delighted to have Gerd Klausen on board, a very experienced doctor who is involved in sea rescue on a voluntary basis and who is doing such a valuable job for the people,” says Dr. Harald Kischlat, Chairman of German Doctors e.V.

The SEA-EYE 4 is expected to reach its operational area in the middle of next week.