The ship ''Life'' is a former fishing cutter, which was used in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

from 2017 to 2018 under the name ''Seefuchs'' for the

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 having chartered the ships '' Sea-Eye'' and '' Seefuchs/ Sea Fox'' until Aug ...

association from

Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...

as a rescue ship between Malta and Libya. In 2019 the ship was given away to the Spanish organisation

Proem-Aid Proem-Aid ('Professional Emergency Aid') is a Spanish NGO which operates in the Mediterranean Sea with the aims of aiding and rescuing those in distress on the water. It was formed by a group of emergency service workers who volunteered their time a ...

. In 2021, the ship was intercepted in international waters with a large drug load after being bought by drug dealers, in a joint investigation by the Guardia Civil and the

Servicio de Vigilancia Aduanera The Customs Surveillance Service ( es, Servicio de Vigilancia Aduanera, SVA) is a law enforcement agency of the Spanish Ministry of Finance, integrated in the Spanish Tax Agency. Its responsibilities include the investigation and prosecution of ...

. Before she was used as a rescue ship, the ''Seefuchs'' was based in the museum harbor in Greifswald for many years as a museum or traditional ship. Her sister ship is the ''

'', which is also used by Sea-Eye.

History

The ship was built at the

Elbewerft Boizenburg Elbewerft Boizenburg was a German shipbuilding company, headquartered in Boizenburg. Since 1990 it has been part of the Deutschen Maschinen- und Schiffbau AG (DMS AG). History The boat workshop was founded by Franz Jürgen Lemm in 1793. The first ...

shipyard, Boizenburg and was launched in 1958. She entered service in January 1959 as SAS 316, ''Heringshai''. The owner and operator was VEB Fischfang Saßnitz. 50 of the same type of ship were built first at the

Volkswerft Volkswerft (german: Volkswerft Stralsund GmbH) is a shipyard in the Hanseatic city of Stralsund on the Strelasund. It is part of the German Hegemann-group. The Volkswerft was founded in 1948 as ''Ingenieurbau Ges.m.b.H.''. On April 25 the first t ...

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, Neub ...

and later at Elbewerft Boizenburg. The cutter has a length of 26.50 meters, which is why it was colloquially called "twenty-six". The fishing area for the ''Heringshai'' was primarily the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

and the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

. Until 1991 she was in use for commercial fishing.

Museum ship

In 1993 the ship was sold and renamed ''Seefuchs'' and came to the museum harbor in Greifswald as a museum ship. Since the

Ryck The Ryck is a river in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. From its source near Bartmannshagen, part of the Süderholz community northeast of Grimmen, the Ryck flows for about to the east, reaching Greifswald shortly before its mouth. The larger ...

fairway depth Fairway is a part of a water body (bay, harbor, river) containing the navigable channel (also known as a ship channel), a route suitable for ships of the larger size (with draft closer to the draft limit). Fairway depth, width, and height The ...

was reduced in the course of the construction of the barrage in Wieck, several ships had to leave the museum harbor. For this reason, the ''Seefuchs'' came to

in 2014. There is also a film dating from this time.

Rescue ship with Sea-Eye

In the wake of the humanitarian emergency and in the face of numerous people drowned in connection with immigration to the EU via the Mediterranean Sea, the non-governmental organisation Sea-Eye bought the ship in 2017. After some modifications, the former museum ship was used for rescue operations in the Mediterranean until the end of 2018. On June 21, 2018, the Italian Interior Minister

Matteo Salvini Matteo Salvini (; born 9 March 1973) is an Italian politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport since 2022. He has been List of Federal ...

(

Lega Nord Lega Nord (; acronym: LN), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing, federalist, populist and conservative political party in Italy. In the run-up of the 2018 general election, the party was rebranded as (), without changing its official n ...

) announced that the ''Seefuchs'' and '' Lifeline'' of the

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

organisation of the same name are no longer allowed to call at Italian ports. Salvini said Italy would no longer aid the "illegal immigration business" and that the organisations would have to find other ports to dock. Transport Minister

Danilo Toninelli Danilo Toninelli (born 2 August 1974) is an Italian politician. Biography Toninelli was born in Soresina on 2 August 1974. He graduated in law at the University of Brescia in 1999. From 1999 to 2001 he was an Officer within the Carabinieri Corps ...

(MoVimento 5 Stelle) then announced the seizure of both ships for the purpose of a registration check, as the Representation of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

had stated that they were not in the Dutch registers. According to press releases,

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

announced to Sea-Eye in September 2018 that it would only authorize the ''Seefuchs'' to leave port if the association made a "strong, formal and official declaration" that it would no longer engage in

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

operations (SAR). On 23 November it was announced that Malta would unconditionally release the ''Seefuchs'' after six months of detention. Shortly before this, on 19 November 2018, the flag had been changed from the Netherlands to Germany.

Rescue ship with Proem Aid

The ship was donated to the Spanish organisation

in March 2019 and is to be used by the organisation under the name ''Life''. PROEM intend to use ''Life'' for training volunteers and to raise awareness of the problems faced by refugees.

Criminal organization buy the ship

In November 2020, a criminal organization based in Spain dedicated to drug dealing bought the ship from the NGO

. After preparing the ship for navigation and change its main color to blue from red color, it travels to the coast of Morocco, where the criminal organization proceeds to load up to 15 tons of

hashish Hashish ( ar, حشيش, ()), also known as hash, "dry herb, hay" is a drug made by compressing and processing parts of the cannabis plant, typically focusing on flowering buds (female flowers) containing the most trichomes. European Monitorin ...

. In June 2021, in an investigation carried out by the Guardia Civil and the

, the ship was intercepted 100 nautical miles south of Huelva (Spain), seizing 15,000 kilograms of hashish, arresting its crew, made up of two Moroccan citizens, a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

citizen, a Latvian citizen and a Spanish citizen. The ship is currently intervened in the port of Huelva.Desembarcan 15.000 kilos de hachís en el centro de Huelva
(tr. "15,000 kilograms of hashish are landed in Huelva") ''diariodehuelva.es''

References

{{Reflist Sea rescue organizations European migrant crisis Immigrant rights activism Humanitarian aid organizations in Europe Refugee aid organizations in Europe