On Sunday, 7 June 2026, at least eleven people died in a shipwreck in the Central Mediterranean, around 45 nautical miles off Malta, within the Maltese search and rescue area. Around 60 people were reportedly in distress. When the Sea-Watch monitoring aircraft Seabird 1 arrived on scene, no remnants of the boat were visible. Survivors were already on board the Turkish fishing vessel TUNCAY SAGUN-2. Sea-Watch considers this to be another case of non-assistance by the EU and its member states and of possible negligent manslaughter. Sea-Watch demands an independent investigation.
The Seabird 1 monitoring aircrew arrived on scene at 16:45 UTC. The operation involved Maltese, Italian, Frontex, and EU assets, including assets connected to Operation IRINI, as well as a Turkish fishing vessel. Publicly available data indicate that a Maltese aerial asset was likely on scene at around 10:30 UTC. This is consistent with the Italian Coast Guard’s public communication, which acknowledged that different authorities were aware of a distress case of approximately 60 people beforehand.
The first rescue was carried out by the crew of TUNCAY SAGUN-2, who rescued about 48 people alive. Maltese and Italian rescue assets arrived later and searched the area for further survivors, although they had already been informed of the people in distress prior. Upon Seabird 1 arrival, the Italian coast guard had several dead bodies onboard their vessel.
Seabird 1 aircrew subsequently observed the transshipment of survivors to Maltese vessels, as well as the medical evacuation of at least one person by Maltese helicopter. Reports say that 53 survivors and 11 dead disembarked in Malta. The amount of missing people is not known.
Paul Wagner, spokesperson of the organisation Sea-Watch:
“European authorities were likely aware of this distress case before the shipwreck, and assets were present in the area. The timeline raises serious questions about whether all available measures were taken in time to prevent the loss of life,” said Paul Wagner, spokesperson from Sea-Watch. “We consider this a case of possible negligent manslaughter and call for the conduct of Maltese, Italian, and EU authorities to be investigated.”
Malta is responsible for coordinating rescues within its search-and-rescue area. Sea-Watch has repeatedly documented cases in which people in distress in the Maltese search and rescue area were not assisted or illegally supplied and guided by unmarked vessels to Italy, instead of being rescued.
At the same time, the EU has withdrawn state-led rescue capacities from the Central Mediterranean in recent years. Instead, European authorities have relied increasingly on aerial surveillance, proxy militias in Libya, and the obstruction of civil rescue organizations. Furthermore, the criminalization of civil actors that rescue people in distress is ever-increasing, as well as the criminalization of people on the move themselves.
In this case, once again, a fishing vessel rescued the survivors rather than Malta’s rescue vessels.
Correction: In the original press release dated June 8, 2026, we referred to a Tunisian fishing boat; however, the vessel TUNCAY SAGUN-2 sails under the Turkish flag. We have corrected the mistake and apologize for the inconvenience.
