The crew of the Seabird 2 aircraft of the sea rescue organization Sea-Watch discovered the bodies of 11 people floating in international waters off the Libyan coast during their monitoring flight yesterday. During today’s mission, the crew discovered another body. The exact circumstances are still unclear.
During their nine-hour observation flight, which started yesterday morning at 07:00 Central European Summer Time on the Italian island of Lampedusa, the crew of the Seabird 2 sighted the bodies of eleven people in an area approximately 19 to 42 nautical miles north-east of Zawiya (Libya). During today’s mission, the crew discovered another body. The current flight of the Seabird 2 and the search for further victims is still ongoing. It can be assumed that the dead were victims of a previously undiscovered shipwreck.
In a 9-hour search operation yesterday, the organization Doctors Without Borders recovered 11 bodies, of which it is currently not certain whether they are the bodies previously sighted by Sea-Watch. It is also uncertain how many more bodies are still in the area. Sea-Watch is calling on the responsible authorities to launch a large-scale search operation for further bodies, to determine the exact circumstances of the deaths and to identify the dead as quickly as possible in order to inform the bereaved and facilitate their transport.
“Authorities must launch a large-scale search operation for further bodies to be recovered. Above all, however, we must put an end to letting people die. We are flying over a mass grave politically created by Europe,” says Tamino Böhm, Head of Mission at Sea-Watch Airborne Operations.
On 6 May 2024, the Italian civil aviation authority ENAC issued a decree banning monitoring flights by NGOs over the Mediterranean and threatening to detain aircraft in case of non-compliance with the decree. Despite the regulation, Sea Watch has decided to continue its monitoring flights over the central Mediterranean. On 21 May, ENAC therefore imposed a fine of €2064 on Sea Watch.
