Dear friends of Sea-Eye,

in my last message, I wrote: “What a Tuesday morning!” and by that I meant the rescue of 325 people from five boats within a few hours, which we were able to carry out together with RISE ABOVE. We had no idea what was in store for us in the following few hours.

The crew were sent to two more emergencies at sea on Wednesday. We rescued 72 people, including 13 children, from the first boat. The second distress at sea turned out to be very complicated. The two-story wooden boat was completely overloaded and unstable with ca. 400 people. When we arrived the boat was already taking in water from a leak. Together with RISE ABOVE, we quickly provided the people with life jackets, calmed them down and initially stabilized the dangerous situation. This was crucial because such a large wooden boat can easily capsize if there is unrest or even panic.

Medical emergencies were first evacuated to SEA-EYE 4, where they could be treated in our board-hospital. One person was successfully resuscitated on the rescue boat en route to the SEA-EYE 4. The complete evacuation of the wooden boat could not be completed until midnight.

There are now more than 800 people aboard SEA-EYE 4, which has meanwhile set course for Lampedusa. The Italian island is only a few hours away from the scene of the accident, making it the fastest accessible safe port.

As already announced, we would like to send the SEA-EYE 4 back into life-saving operations in December. Please continue to support us so that we can finance this rescue mission.

Yours, Gorden Isler
- Chairman of Sea-Eye e. V.