The crew of the Sea-Eye 4 rescued another 32 people from an unseaworthy wooden boat on May 30, while searching for another distress case in the Maltese SAR zone. Now carrying 49 people, the Sea-Eye risks penalties for carrying out more than one rescue which is not permitted per Italian law.
On Tuesday evening, the crew of the Sea-Eye 4, a rescue ship operated by the German NGO Sea-Eye, said they rescued 32 people from an unseaworthy wooden boat. The distress case had been reported earlier by a nearby yacht.
At the time of the distress call, Sea-Eye 4 was on its way to Ortona with 17 people who had already been rescued from a wooden boat on Sunday. The Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre assigned the port, about 1,300 nautical miles away, to the ship immediately after the rescue of the 17 people on Sunday.
En route to Ortona, the Sea-Eye 4 was already searching for another boat in distress with 400 on board in the Maltese search and rescue (SAR) zone, before rescuing a further 32 people from the small boat on Tuesday night. The boat carrying 400 people was later rescued by the Italian Coast Guard.
Seabird, a search and rescue plane operated by Sea-Watch a charity operating in the Mediterranean, was able to locate the boat carrying 400 people. Sea-Watch, documented the sighting on Twitter.
The Sea-Eye 4 was unable to locate the wooden boat with 400 people on board in the darkness of the early hours of Wednesday morning in the large search area. However, several hours later, the boat reached the Italian SAR zone using their own power and were rescued there by the Italian Coast Guard on Wednesday morning.
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Italian intervention
Jan Ribbeck, director of mission of the ongoing Sea-Eye 4 mission, pointed out that the intervention of the Italian Coast Guard "shows that the rescue was absolutely necessary". He noted that no European authority would allow such an unseaworthy boat to leave a European port.
"These people were in the greatest danger from the moment they set sail. The many deaths in the shipwreck off [Cutro] earlier this year show the terrible consequences when state actors react too late," Ribbeck added.
According to Sea-Eye, Malta had completely ignored the hundreds of people whose lives were in danger and did not coordinate the maritime emergency. The boat was in distress in the Maltese SAR zone for many hours. Sea-Eye claims that Malta was undoubtedly in charge and refused to act.
Ribbeck stated that it is "a scandal that Malta has for a long time not carried out rescue operations in its own search and rescue zone for people on the move".
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Heavy penalties for saving lives
Despite successfully rescuing a total of 49 lives, Sea-Eye now faces heavy penalties. This is because the Italian government passed a law on February 24 that prevents rescue ships from carrying out several rescues in a row.
"The obligation under international law to come to the aid of people in distress at sea outweighs national laws," said Gorden Isler, Chairman of Sea-Eye e. V.
He criticized the Italian restrictive policies and inaction of the Maltese authorities. "If Sea-Eye is now being punished, it is primarily because Maltese authorities are no longer fulfilling their coordinating duties and people seeking protection are being left alone in the Maltese search and rescue zone."
On the hull of the Sea-Eye 4 #LeaveNoOneToDie is written in large letters. "It is not an empty promise", said Isler. "That is why we turned the ship around on the way to Ortona, which saved the lives of 32 people,” he explained.
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The increasing criminalization and restriction of sea rescue organizations is making it more and more difficult for civilian rescue ships to operate in the Mediterranean Sea, charities say. The Doctors Without Borders' rescue ship Geo Barents has already been sanctioned this year with a fine of €10,000 and a 30 day detention of the vessel. Sea-Eye now fears that further civilian resources of the organization will be damaged by government restrictions.
The current missions are now also much more costly according to Sea-Eye, due to Italy's policy of assigning far-away ports to civilian sea rescue ships. Although this is likely to be a fraction of the human cost of these measures.
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