SEA-EYE 5: 78 refugees go ashore in Pozzallo

Italian coast guard evacuated emergency medical patient

At noon on Thursday, November 7, 2024, the all-weather lifeboat SEA-EYE 5 brought a total of 78 survivors from two separate distress cases at sea that had occurred off Lampedusa to safety in Pozzallo, Sicily.

Sea-Eye’s head of mission had previously tried to be granted permission to use a nearby port from Tuesday onwards, whereupon the Italian coastguard assigned Ortona, although it already knew from a distress case last week that the Sea-Eye all-weather lifeboat would not be able to cover such a long distance for technical reasons. In addition, it is not reasonable for the survivors to remain on the SEA-EYE 5 for more than 24 hours for humanitarian reasons. It was only on Wednesday evening that the Italian coastguard finally named Pozzallo as the port of disembarkation.

“It is simply impressive to see this former DGzRS ship in action in the Mediterranean. The ship and crew have done an outstanding job over the past two weeks, saving a total of 175 lives. The former NIS RANDERS will save many more lives,” says Gorden Isler, Chairman of Sea-Eye e.V.

“In addition to various minor injuries, one patient with a serious chronic medical condition had to be treated on board. Another patient was suffering from a rapidly developing wound infection. He eventually became so unwell that the Italian coastguard had to evacuate him. After I had spent some time with the refugees and built up trust, they told me about the violence, torture and inhumane living conditions they had experienced in Libya,” said Tamsin Drew, a doctor from German Doctors, describing the medical situation.

The crew of the SEA-EYE 5 rescued 110 people off Lampedusa in three operations on Tuesday and Wednesday. 31 people from the third rescue operation were taken over by the Italian coastguard off Lampedusa on Wednesday. In addition, another person was evacuated from the ship by the Italian coastguard for medical reasons. There have been several distress cases off the Mediterranean island since Tuesday morning.