On May 11, Sea-Watch 5’s crew rescued a boat in distress in international waters and brought everyone aboard to safety, keeping authorities informed throughout the operation. A smear campaign currently being waged misleads the public and spreads disinformation.
In the morning hours of May 11, the crew spotted a boat in distress on the horizon and, after informing the relevant authorities, proceeded to rescue. When the rescue team reached the boat, they found a double-decker boat with 90 people on board. Two were unconscious, several severely weakened, and some trapped below deck. There was no visible life-saving or navigational equipment on board — clearly a boat in distress under international law. At the same time, the rescue team was confronted with masked men who threatened to throw people into the water. Every further step taken by the Sea-Watch crew was to de-escalate this extremely dangerous situation: to save lives. As with every such incident, the authorities were informed of everything that happened; encounters with masked, armed men have been reported before, by Sea-Watch and by other NGOs operating in these waters.
Now, right-wing media outlets such as Bild and politicians such as AfD leader Alice Weidel are spreading false claims about Sea-Watch’s rescue operation, basing them on a video filmed by a Frontex aircraft. The material, held by the Italian authorities and covered by investigative secrecy during the ongoing proceedings, has been edited together in a suggestive manner. What can be seen in the video, however, is no secret: Sea-Watch communicated every detail of the rescue operation to the authorities. The actual crime happened after the rescue and was not filmed by Frontex: Sea-Watch 5’s crew and the people they had just rescued came under fire from Libya’s so-called coast guard.
Anna Giannessi, spokesperson for Sea-Watch:
“We always operate transparently and have already months ago communicated every detail of this video to the authorities. This smear campaign against civil society will not intimidate us. We stay determined to save lives and to fight for freedom of movement.”
Our crews are obligated to rescue people in distress at sea regardless of who is steering the boat or how people ended up in life-threatening danger. There are no arrangements between Sea-Watch and Libyan militias or boats in distress.
If anyone wants to talk about arrangements with violent militias, look at Europe’s deal with Libya: funding a “coast guard” with no independent existence from the militias it’s supposedly meant to police. These are forces closely linked to those that fired on the Sea-Watch 5 just hours after this rescue. Frontex, meanwhile, pours money into surveillance planes and drones that are very good at filming rescues and remarkably useless at preventing deaths. The EU keeps funding the deadliest crimes.
Sea-Watch’s course will not be altered neither by criminal prosecution nor by this smear campaign. The work of Sea-Watch has always been transparent, and it will remain focused on the people suffering from EU border violence. No manufactured scandal will stop Sea-Watch’s commitment to freedom of movement and to saving lives.
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Transparency note: This press release was first published on July 16, 2026, and referred to reporting by the Italian right-wing outlet “Il Giornale.” Following subsequent coverage in German media, this reference was updated to reflect reporting by Bild and statements made by AfD leader Alice Weidel. The following changes were also made:
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A detail was added that the rescue team confirmed after the initial publication: the masked men threatened to throw the people on the boat into the water.
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A new paragraph was added explicitly stating that Sea-Watch’s crews are obligated to rescue people in distress regardless of who was steering the boat or how they ended up in danger, and that there are no arrangements between Sea-Watch and Libyan militias or boats in distress.
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The spokesperson’s quote was corrected: the original version referred to authorities being informed of “every detail of this video,” which has been corrected to “every detail of this rescue,” matching what was actually communicated to authorities.
