After rescuing 44 stranded persons from the abandoned oil platform Didon in the Mediterranean sea, Italian authorities have detained the rescue ship Aurora operated by the German organization Sea-Watch. In addition, the organization faces a fine ranging between €2,000 and €10,000. The exact duration of the detention and the amount of the fine will be notified in the upcoming days. According to their own statements, the survivors had been stranded on the platform since Monday prior. Following the Easter weekend, 71 people are considered missing due to a shipwreck in the central Mediterranean. In the days prior, at least 104 people had died while attempting to cross the sea. On April 1, the Italian coast guard recovered 19 bodies.
After the initiative Watch the Med Alarm Phone alerted European authorities to the stranded individuals already on April 1, the crew of the rescue ship Aurora set sail toward the oil platform on April 3. The rescue crew safely took all survivors on board and brought them to the Italian island of Lampedusa on the morning of April 4. Italian authorities have now detained the rescue ship on the basis of the so-called Piantedosi Decree, stating that the organization had failed to inform Libyan authorities about its operations. Merely more than a week ago, the Italian authorities also detained Sea-Watch’s second rescue ship, the Sea-Watch 5.
Giulia Messmer, spokesperson for Sea-Watch, commented:
“While hundreds of people are drowning in the Mediterranean, Italy is blocking the ships that could save them. 44 people were stranded on an oil platform for five days and no European state came to their help. Anyone who criminalizes rescue is consciously choosing death above human lives.”
More than 70 incidents of extreme violence by Libyan actors, including the shooting at rescue ships and people fleeing, have been documented in the Mediterranean over the past 10 years, the majority of them by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard. In 2025 alone, more than 20 of such incidents have been recorded.
On November 5, 2025, 13 search and rescue organizations therefore formed the alliance Justice Fleet and ceased their operational communication with Libyan authorities. In two cases, Italian courts have already ruled in their favor. In recent years, Italian courts have repeatedly emphasized the life-saving role of civilian search and rescue and clarified that the so-called Libyan Coast Guard and the Libyan Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre are not legitimate rescue actors, and that complying with their instructions violates international law.
