The Sea-Watch came back from its third patrol in the Mediterranean on Wednesday at 10 am. The team based in the camp welcomed the crew at the harbour of “Porto Vecchio” in Lampedusa. I was expecting everybody to jump out of the boat but all crew members were hesitant to do so. Putting their feet…

While our ship is at sea, the Sea-Watch Team on land is engaged in raising awareness on the project and on the migration issue in the Mediterranean, by developing a network of relevant international organizations and NGOs to support the cause. On Thursday, the camp coordinator and myself presented Sea-Watch to Amnesty International in Lampedusa….

The Sea-Watch left the harbour today for its third patrol in the Mediterranean Sea! Despite the technical challenges presented by the boat, the crew managed to leave in the late morning, straight from the gas station towards the open sea. The current crew is composed of eight persons, including the shipmaster, a SAR expert, two…

The Sea-Watch is ready to save lives again! Friday 17 is considered a day of bad luck by Sicilians, yet superstition played second fiddle to what was another important date for Sea-Watch. In the morning the ferry that links Lampedusa to Porto Empedocle, in Sicily, brought back the team’s mini-van containing the new life-rafts for…

A big thank you to Daniel Shepherd for all his efforts on behalf of the SeaWatch team getting the humanitarian project established, fighting through the growing pains of a new organisation and rapidly building international profile as the first SeaWatch spokesperson and legal advisor while being part of the Human Rights at Sea Internship Programme. Human Rights at…

Our ship, the MS Sea-Watch, is now, after rescuing 587 people in 6 separate rescue missions on the way back from its second operation, and arrived in Lampedusa yesterday evening. Our crew being on a constant rescue mission for six days shows that we are exactly what is needed here. Not a single day passed out here…

I recently visited the Reception Centre on the island of Lampedusa. Overseen by the Italian Ministry of Interior, the Reception Centre temporarily accommodates migrant people who arrive on the Island after been rescued at sea. The Centre also represents the first stage in the official asylum application process for those individuals seeking international protection in…

The SeaWatch crew found a dinghy full of migrants and initially provided life jackets & water and fixed the boat where water was coming in. The crew informed the MRCC who sent two high-speed SAR RIBs from Lampedusa.

Today, as part of the Sea-Watch’s second coordinated search and rescue patrol, the vessel encountered a migrant boat with approximately 100 persons on board. As first on scene the Sea-Watch distributed water and liaised with relevant coastguard authorities with respect to the migrant people’s rescue. Attending to those in distress, Medecins-Sans-Frontier’s (MSF) vessel, Bourbon Argos,…