Three vessels in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea, all rescued
09.05.2015 / 18:45 / Central Mediterranean Sea
Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigation – 8th of May 2015
Case name: 2015_05_08-CM17
Situation: Three vessels in distress in the Central Mediterranean
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea
Summary of the Case: On the 8th of May 2015, our shift team was notified about three vessels in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. Contact to two of them could be established and later in the evening their rescue was confirmed by the Maltese authorities. For the first time, German military vessels that were sent to the Central Mediterranean region for that purpose, were involved in rescue operations. The vessels ‘Hessen’ and ‘Berlin’ led the rescue of these three vessels.
We from the Alarm Phone support the increased efforts made to rescue and it is clear that the sending out of three German military vessels has been a direct response to the public pressure that has mounted in the German civil society. We seek to maintain this pressure and expect continuous rescue efforts in the future. At the same time, we stand opposed to the idea of destroying ‘smuggling vessels’ which is gaining traction internationally. If enacted, these actions would signify a new dimension of a politics of deterrence where the few remaining means of transport for refugees would be destroyed, so that people become imprisoned along African shores. The only viable alternative is to establish a humanitarian ferry line that safely transfers people out of Libya, as we have called for before (see source 1).