Saturday, 16 May – Italy has opened a criminal investigation against the captain of the Sea-Watch 5 with the accusation of “aiding and abetting unauthorized immigration”. The Sea-Watch 5 had entered the port of Brindisi on Friday morning at around 11 a.m. with 166 rescued people on board. The investigation represents an absurd escalation: Days…
13 May – In response to the attack on the Sea-Watch 5 on Monday, 11 May 2026, the European Commission stated at its press conference on Wednesday, 12 May 2026, that EU cooperation with Libyan actors “prevented further violence.” Sea-Watch condemns this portrayal as a grotesque distortion of reality. Without the political, financial, and operational…
On 11 May 2026, an armed patrol boat operated by the so-called Libyan coastguard opened fire on the civilian rescue vessel Sea-Watch 5 in international waters and threatened to board the ship and abduct those on board to Libya. The attack took place approximately 55 nautical miles north of Tripoli, in international waters. Shortly beforehand,…
A patrol boat operated by the so-called Libyan coast guard fired live ammunition at the rescue ship Sea-Watch 5 and is attempting to seize the vessel, its 30 crew members, and 90 rescued people on board to Libya. The attack is ongoing and began shortly after the Sea-Watch 5 crew had rescued 90 people in…
On May 8, we rescued 190 people from two overcrowded boats in distress at sea. Initially, the Italian authorities assigned us the port of Civitavecchia — four times farther away than the nearest port, Lampedusa. This was an unnecessarily long and burdensome route that we did not want to impose on our 190 guests. However,…
