Sea-Eye is a German non-governmental organization headquartered in

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 ...

. 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 August 2017, then the '' Alan Kurdi'' (named in memory of the young Syrian found drowned on a Turkish beach in 2015) and since August 2020 the ''

Sea-Eye 4 ''Sea Eye 4'' is an offshore supply ship that is used as a sea rescue ship. The Sea-Eye organisation moved the ship to the Mediterranean Sea in 2021 to rescue refugees. History The ship was built under, construction number 296, at Scheepswerf Pa ...

''. In June 2021, Sea-Eye received honorary citizenship from the mayor of

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

Operations

On 3 April 2019, the ''Alan Kurdi'', warned after a call to the emergency number of the (German) Watch the Mediterranean Sea association, rescued 64 migrants (including twelve women and two children aged one and six) off the

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

n coast;

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

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 ...

initially refused berthing but after ten days of waiting at sea, the migrants were finally permitted to disembark at the port of

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit and capital city, capital of Malta. Located on the Malta (island), main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, i ...

and were divided between

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

(twenty of them),

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. On 5 July 2019, off the coast of

, ''Sea Eye'' rescued 65 migrants from drowning. On 7 July 2019 65 migrants were disembarked from ''Alan Kurdi'' in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. On 4 August 2019 ''Alan Kurdi'' disembarked forty migrants in

References

Sea rescue organizations European migrant crisis Immigrant rights activism Humanitarian aid organizations in Europe Refugee aid organizations in Europe {{Germany-org-stub