The city of Bochum sends SEA-EYE 4 on its fifth rescue mission in 2022

Ship sponsorship enables further mission despite declining donations

The rescue ship SEA-EYE 4 has left Trapani for the central Mediterranean. The fifth rescue mission this year was made possible to a large extent by the city of Bochum, which took over a ship sponsorship for the SEA-EYE 4 rescue ship in July. The sponsorship includes funding made up of budget money from the city (€ 30.000) as well as donations from the civilian population (€ 37.714, as of Aug. 30, 2022). In total, the “Bochum Saves” campaign thus resulted in funding of € 67.714, which was used for the mission preparations of the SEA-EYE 4.

“Bochum’s support came at the right time. We are currently experiencing a simultaneity of various crises, which has also led to an overall decline in donations for Sea-Eye. Bochum has shown how local commitment can find a way out of the solidarity crisis at the EU’s external borders. We hope that many more municipalities will join in,” says Gorden Isler, chairman of Sea-Eye e. V.

In the summer months, a particularly large number of people dare to flee the civil war country of Libya. In Tripoli, fights broke out again over the weekend in the wake of a conflict between Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha, resulting in numerous deaths.

Dr. Angelika Leist, German Doctors mission physician and ship’s doctor, accompanies the current Sea-Eye mission: „I am involved on the Sea-Eye 4 because it must not be that people fleeing from a life not worth living are put in danger of their lives and no official authority helps them. Of course, civil emergency rescue can only be a temporary solution. Actually, the EU countries should jointly organize a sea rescue and not commission the so-called Libyan coast guard with push-backs.“

„In principle, of course, it would be desirable if the Western countries, together with the countries of origin, ensured that the living conditions on the ground become such that people no longer have to flee. But as long as this is not the case, I am happy to be able to help as a German Doctors mission doctor. My last medical mission in the refugee camps on Thessaloniki certainly helps me to understand the guests on board the Sea-Eye 4 and their moving causes better,“ says Leist.

German Doctors regularly provides volunteer doctors for the rescue missions of the SEA-EYE 4 and contributes financially to the operation of the onboard hospital, where a three-person team often has to treat dozens of rescued people during rescue missions.