Alan Kurdi (ship)

Alan Kurdi,[1] named after the drowned Syrian child of Kurdish origin, Alan Kurdi, is a ship which has been used since 2018 by the humanitarian organization Sea-Eye - under the German flag - and latterly the Italian humanitarian NGO, 'ResQ - People Saving People' for the rescue of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea.

She was then acquired through a tendering process by the Krebs Group,[clarification needed] which agreed in March 2011 to cooperate with the Stralsund Ozeaneum for the use of the vessel.

In autumn 2018, the ship was sold to the non-governmental organization Sea-Eye,[2] which uses her as a rescue boat for refugees and migrants in distress in the Mediterranean Sea.

On Sunday 10 February 2019, the father of the young Alan Kurdi named the ship in the presence of religious and political representatives, such as the Bishop of Mallorca Sebastià Taltavull i Anglada, in the port of Palma, on behalf of his drowned son.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini refused to disembark the population on the pretext that the ship was flying the German flag.

Due to lack of food and clean water for the three to four week trip, the refugees were brought to Malta after an agreement was reached on 13 April [4] from where they were distributed to Germany, France, Portugal, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom.

Without a GPS-enabled phone or other navigation aid, there was apparently only ten litres of potable water left on the dinghy, which had already been at sea for 12 hours.

Alan Kurdi's attempts to contact Libyan authorities as well as Italian rescue command centers were unsuccessful, according to Sea-Eye.

With entry into the port of the island initially prohibited, the crew nevertheless hoped to obtain clearance to moor, in line with international aid commitments.

Shortly after the ship left the waters off Malta on 8 July 2019, the crew recovered 44 people traveling on a wooden boat.

[6] On April 6, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she rescued 150 migrants and headed for the Italian coast for them to be transferred to another boat which was quarantined with the support of the Red Cross.