The group, called Sea Watch, was created by German entrepreneur Harold Hoeppner along with friends and volunteers from Brandenburg.
Sputnik correspondent Bolle Zelke spoke with Sea Watch’s captain, Ingo Werth, who has managed to rescue almost 600 refugees at sea.
“After preparing and transferring the ship we left for the waters of Libya on July 4, where within a few days we rescued 600 people from the water,” captain Werth told Sputnik’s Bolle Zelke.
“The cooperation with the Italian Coast Guard has been very successful. Thrice they took from us the saved refugees, in general taking 350 people.”
But he said that the ships Triton and Frontex were not visible anywhere.
“Cooperation with Triton is almost non-existent. The vessel is not actively helping in rescue. I was receiving the information stating that Triton is at a seven-hour distance and I specifically called them on the radio through the coordinator in Rome, but got the answer: There are no ships in your area,” the captain said.
“Sometimes it is said that the ships of the German Navy rescued 1,500 people but it is actually a kind of a shuttle service. For ten days we have not seen any warship. We saw them on the radars in the port of Sicily, while off the coast of Libya people were dying. But we were not given any ships for our assistance despite the fact that we called them for help.”
But regarding their progress in the future he said that due to the fact that this initiative is still private, it is not surprising that the team's pockets are empty. “During the mission we spent on life-saving equipment around 70,000 — 90,000 euros. We were forced to use life rafts, because the ships were not in the vicinity and the boats of refugees drowned. We do not have any funds so we urgently need donations,” the captain admitted.
“Leave your donation on our website http://sea-watch.org/ and no later than 10 days after the receipt of the donation we can offer a receipt for a tax deduction. Anyone who wants to take part in our project, anyone who finds it useful is welcome! We definitely need the support.”
The European agency Frontex is responsible for the coordination of cooperation among member states on state borders. The operation Triton Frontex operates also in the Mediterranean. Since November last year, the Triton operation replaced operation Mare nostrum under the Italian leadership.
While Mare nostrum was aimed at the actual rescue of drowning refugees, Triton is largely intended for border protection. Most of the human rights organizations have criticized this move.
