Sea-Eye

Sea-Eye is a German non-governmental organization headquartered in Regensburg. It participates in the rescue of migrants in distress in the Mediterranean, in particular by chartering and operating ships for the rescue of refugees at risk in the Mediterranean.

History

Sea-Eye operated the Sea-Eye and Seefuchs/ Sea Fox until August 2017, ^{[1] [2]} then the Alan Kurdi (named in memory of the young Syrian found drowned on a Turkish beach in 2015) and from August 2020 to 2025 the Sea-Eye 4 . ^{[3] [4]} In June 2021, Sea-Eye received honorary citizenship from the mayor of Palermo. ^[5] In 2024, together with United4Rescue, Sea-Eye bought the NIS RANDERS, a former German Sea Rescue Society boat, which they now operate in the Mediterranean as Sea-Eye 5 . ^[6]

Operations

On 3 April 2019, the Alan Kurdi, alerted after a call to the emergency number of the (German) Watch the Mediterranean Sea association, ^[7] rescued 64 migrants (including twelve women and two children aged one and six) off the Libyan coast; Italy and Malta initially refused berthing but after ten days of waiting at sea, the migrants were finally permitted to disembark at the port of Valletta and were divided between Germany, France (twenty of them), Portugal and Luxembourg. ^{[8] [9]}

On 5 July 2019, off the coast of Libya, Sea Eye rescued 65 migrants from drowning. ^[10] On 7 July 2019 65 migrants were disembarked from Alan Kurdi in Naples. ^[11]

On 4 August 2019 Alan Kurdi disembarked forty migrants in Malta. ^[12]

Under the Scholz cabinet (2021-2025), the activists managed to secure financial support from the government, resulting in 2 million Euros in 2024 and 900.000 Euros in the first half of 2025 for Sea-Eye and other German based migrant-rescue-NGOs. The funding ended in the second half of 2025 under the new administration. ^[13]

In 2025 the operation of Sea-Eye 4 was deemed economically no longer viable under the Piantedosi-rules and it was handed over to "Mediterranea". ^[14]

On 15 June 2025 the activists picked up 65 migrants some 50 miles off the Libyan coast. The Sea-Eye 5 requested a harbor from Italian authorities to disembark the migrants, some of whom were in need of medical assistance. The ship was directed to Pozzallo in Sicily to hand over the injured migrants and then to proceed to Taranto for the rest. ^[14] The crew decided that Taranto was too far away, and they did not want to triage the migrants, so they headed to Pozzallo with all migrants instead, where the ship was impounded for disobeying orders. ^{[15] [16]}

In late July 2025 the activists on Sea-Eye 5 picked up another 31 migrants in two sorties. Two migrants were evacuated to shore in advance, the rest was brought to Vibo Valentia. ^[17]

References

1. "Sea-Eye rettet keine Flüchtlinge mehr" [Sea-Eye no longer rescues refugees]. n-tv.de. Retrieved 2019-07-08..
2. "Plusieurs ONG suspendent le sauvetage de migrants en Méditerranée" [Several NGOs suspend the rescue of migrants in the Mediterranean]. Le Monde. 2017-08-13. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
3. "SEA-EYE 4 The fourth rescue ship". sea-eye.org'. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
4. "December 2020 update - NGO ships involved in search and rescue in the Mediterranean and legal proceedings against them". European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, fra.europa.eu'. 18 December 2020. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
5. "Orlando conferisce la cittadinanza onoraria di Palermo alla Sea Eye" [Orlando confers honorary citizenship of Palermo on Sea Eye]. PalermoToday (in Italian). 4 June 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
6. "SEA-EYE 5". United4Rescue. Retrieved 17 June 2025.
7. "WatchTheMed Alarm Phone Reports". www.watchthemed.net. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
8. "Les migrants de Sea-Eye arrivent à Malte avant d'être répartis en Europe" [Sea-Eye migrants arrive in Malta before being dispatched to Europe]. Le Point. 2019-04-13. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
9. "Quatre pays d'Europe acceptent d'accueillir les migrants bloqués depuis dix jours en mer au large de Malte" [Four European countries agree to welcome migrants stranded for ten days at sea off Malta]. Le Monde. 2019-04-13. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
10. "Face à l'Europe et Matteo Salvini, les ONG de secours en mer continuent leurs actions" [Faced with Europe and Matteo Salvini, sea rescue NGOs continue their actions]. Le Monde. 2019-07-06. Retrieved 2019-07-14..
11. "Malte a recueilli les 65 migrants du navire " Alan Kurdi "" [Malta took in the 65 migrants from the ship "Alan Kurdi"]. Le Monde. 2019-07-07. Retrieved 2019-07-08..
12. "Quarante migrants autorisés à débarquer à Malte après un accord européen" [Forty migrants allowed to disembark in Malta after European agreement]. Le Monde. 2019-08-04. Retrieved 2019-08-04..
13. "Johann Wadephul verteidigt Hilfsstopp für zivile Seenotrettung" [Wadepul defends end of support for civilian sea rescue]. Die Zeit. 2025-06-26. Retrieved 2025-06-26..
14. "Wieding (Sea-Eye): «Ci fanno richieste impossibili solo per fermare le barche»" [Wieding (Sea-Eye): "They're making impossible demands just to stop the boats."]. ilmanifesto.it. 2025-06-18. Retrieved 2025-06-18..
15. "Pozzallo, sette ore di braccio di ferro sui migranti a bordo della Sea eye 5. Poi l'ok allo sbarco" [7 hours arm wrestling about migrants on Sea Eye 5. Then disembarkment.]. La Repubblica. 2025-06-15. Retrieved 2025-06-17..
16. "Italien setzt deutsches Rettungsschiff "Sea-Eye 5" fest" [Italy impounds german rescueboat "Sea Eye 5"]. La Repubblica. 2025-06-17. Retrieved 2025-06-17..
17. "Hilfsorganisation: 31 Flüchtlinge aus dem Mittelmeer gerettet" [Aid organization: 31 refugees rescued from the Mediterranean]. Deutschlandfunk. 2025-07-30. Retrieved 2025-07-30.