Dear friends of Sea-Eye,

strong winds are coming up in the operational area and on board the SEA-EYE 4 there are two heavily pregnant women and four babies. We had rescued them from a small wooden boat on Wednesday together with 23 other people. 18 of the rescued people are minors.

Shortly after the rescue, the weather worsened, a low-pressure area developed and strong winds approached. As a result, the head of mission and the captain decided to immediately take the rescued people out of the danger area and find a port of safety especially for the heavily pregnant women and the babies.

However, the Italian Coast Guard declined to coordinate on Thursday evening, referring to the responsibility of German authorities for the SEA-EYE 4. From our point of view it would be irresponsible to let these women give birth in heavy seas in a small ship infirmary. They and the babies have to be brought ashore now and medically treated as fast as possible.

We are more than happy that we found the people just before the strong winds came up. When you see the children playing on board, the thought that they almost disappeared in the Mediterranean Sea is simply unbearable. We need safe passages immediately so that no one has to take these dangerous routes.

Read our report on the current situation on our website.

Kind regards!
Sophie Weidenhiller
- Spokeswoman of Sea-Eye e. V.

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