Two humanitarian vessels, Sea-Watch 5 and Humanity 1, rescued more than 170 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea over the past weekend. Despite the successful operations, the ships are now navigating towards distant “safe ports” designated by Italian authorities, hundreds of miles away, despite the presence of unaccompanied minors and an infant among those rescued.
Sea-Watch announced on Thursday, May 1st, 2025, that its crew aboard the Sea-Watch 5 had saved 109 individuals in the central Mediterranean.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the organisation explained that their vessel initially rescued “104 people from a wooden boat, including 41 minors,” before receiving an alert about another vessel in distress.
The organisation further noted, “While searching for the boat, we spotted the Libyan coastguard around 3.5 kilometres away. We saw people jumping off their vessel, and our rescue boats rushed there, managing to save another five people in acute distress.”
Regarding the initial boat Sea-Watch 5 was searching for, the organisation stated they received a report from Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, indicating it had already been rescued. Sea-Watch commented with concern, “We do not know whether the Italian coastguard rescued them or if they were intercepted by the Libyan coastguard and returned.”
Italian authorities assigned the port of Livorno as the safe port for disembarkation, a decision Sea-Watch vehemently criticised, stating, “This forces 109 people to spend another two days at sea and prevents us from rescuing others.”
Meanwhile, SOS Humanity announced that its ship, Humanity 1, had rescued over 60 migrants from two vessels during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, April 30th to May 1st.
The organisation explained, “The crew had just finished their drills when they spotted the first fibreglass boat with nine people on board, without life jackets and with a strong smell of fuel emanating from it.”
The second boat was located a few hours later, described as an “overcrowded fibreglass boat without any rescue equipment, carrying around 60 people.” The organisation affirmed that its team is providing the rescued migrants, including unaccompanied minors and an infant, with “the best possible medical and psychological care.” Rome designated the port of La Spezia in northern Italy as the port of disembarkation for these rescued individuals, despite it being over 1200 kilometres away from the rescue site.