Leaked Frontex video sparks allegations Sea-Watch cooperated with Libyan smugglers; NGO denies

The CDU and Springer suggest the sea rescue NGO is in cahoots with smugglers. Sea-Watch rejects the allegations – and provides details.

Published: July 24, 2026, 1:33 PM

Photo: Eliano Imperato/Anadolu Agency/imago

By Christian Jakob

Collaboration with the "smuggler mafia," a Frontex video, and a possible decades-long prison sentence for Dutch sea rescue captain Anne van Dam: Since Monday, reports about an alleged scandal have been circulating, at the center of which is said to be the NGO Sea-Watch.

The organization rejects the allegations and speaks of a "far-right smear campaign." There is "neither a relationship nor any form of communication or arrangement" with the Libyan smugglers, Sea-Watch stated in a response to taz.

The Incident

The allegations refer to an incident on May 11, a Monday. On that day, the "Sea Watch 5" rescued 90 people from distress at sea off the coast of Libya. Last week, the media outlets Le Figaro (France) and Il Giornale (Italy) published a video of this situation. It was filmed from the air by a plane of the EU border protection agency Frontex during the operation – and now apparently leaked to the media by the Italian authorities.

The video shows the "Sea Watch 5," its dinghy, and a boat with about a dozen migrants in life jackets. Also on board are five masked men in paramilitary clothing – clearly smugglers. The migrants, as the video shows, transfer from their boat to the Sea-Watch dinghy, partly held by the masked men. Afterwards, the alleged smugglers drive away with the empty boat.

Political Reactions

Various media outlets interpret the footage as evidence that Sea-Watch took the people from the smugglers even though there was no emergency.

• Alexander Throm, domestic policy spokesperson for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, told Welt that it was "strange how cooperative the collaboration is."
• AfD leader Alice Weidel wrote on X: "So-called 'sea rescuers' smuggle illegal migrants into Europe hand in hand with criminal gangs."

Sea-Watch's Response

Sea-Watch rejects this and says the footage omits "essential parts of the rescue operation." The boat in question was discovered by the Sea-Watch crew, and a dinghy was sent there. The boat – which is not visible in the video – had a lower deck. People were locked in there, and there was no rescue equipment.

A total of 90 people were on board, two of them unconscious, several severely weakened.

"Simply because the boat was completely overloaded, it was clear to us that it was an emergency," Sea-Watch spokesperson Julia Winkler told taz. "We could not have left the people there to fend for themselves."

The rescue team was confronted by the masked men, who "threatened to throw people into the water." Such situations have occurred repeatedly in the past. The crew distributed life jackets to the migrants and then brought them on board the "Sea Watch 5" one by one.

Communication with Authorities

In two written messages to the Italian authorities by 11 a.m. that morning, the sea rescuers reported the incident. The second message states:

"After all people in distress except for five had been taken on board, five masked persons refused to be rescued, started the engine of the fiberglass boat, and left the scene in a southerly direction."

Winkler says: "We communicated everything transparently to the authorities from the very beginning." They instructed the crew to bring the rescued to the port of Brindisi. Immediately afterwards, the NGO reported that a patrol boat of the so-called Libyan coast guard had fired live ammunition at the rescue ship.