Rescue group sending new ship to Mediterranean ahead of summer
Migrant rescue NGO Sea-Eye will be sending a new vessel to join its operations in the Mediterranean this summer, the organisation announced on Saturday.
The new rescue ship, Sea-Eye 4, left its shipyard in Rostock, on Germany's Baltic coast, on Saturday morning. It is scheduled to arrive in Spain at the end of April and from there set out on its first rescue mission as quickly as possible.
The vessel has been undergoing works by around 250 volunteers for six months and received the green light earlier this week by the German flag state administration to begin operations.
“People have been dying in the Mediterranean Sea for many years. At least 406 deaths were recorded in 2021 already. The departure of the SEA-EYE 4 is an important signal from a broad civil society alliance to the EU member states," Gordon Isler, Sea-Eye chairman, said.
"Letting people drown in the Mediterranean in order to reduce the number of asylum applications in Europe and to deter others from fleeing is inhuman. This irresponsible policy lacks support from civil society. United4Rescue with its 744 alliance partners, the Protestant and Catholic Church and thousands of donors have made this clear again...