News

21 persons missing: Italian non-assistance likely leads to shipwreck

After a shipwreck on September 4, 10 nautical miles off the Italian coast, 21 persons remain missing. Due to matching evidence, Sea-Watch has strong reasons to believe that the boat in distress was already reported three days prior to Italian and Maltese Authorities by its Airborne operations. Despite the information, no intervention was launched in…

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Sea-Watch 5 rescue ship detained

Following the rescue of 289 people on August 31, 2024, Italian authorities detained the ship Sea-Watch 5 for 20 days. The ship had previously been assigned the port of Civitavecchia, almost 1000 kilometers far, where the rescued people went ashore. The basis for the detention is the so-called Piantedosi Decree introduced in January 2023, which…

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Airborne Quarterly Factsheet April – June 2024

This factsheet outlines a summary of the distress cases the Sea-Watch Airborne operations witnessed April to June 2024 by Airborne with Seabird 1 and Seabird 2. In April to June we conducted 35 operations, with a total flight time of 213 hours and 42 minutes. We spotted approximately 1,878 persons in distress aboard 43 different…

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Sea-Watch 5 rescued 156 people

On 26 July 2024, our crew on the Sea-Watch 5 rescued 156 people from two wooden boats. With Seabird, we supported the first rescue from the air. There were people below deck in both boats, where exhaust fumes and a lack of oxygen posed an acute danger to life. Several people had to be treated…

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