The German migrant transport NGO Sea-Eye has announced it is ready to set sail on a new mission to pick up migrants in the Mediterranean and bring them to Europe in a vessel bigger than their last.
The NGO announced their new vessel, the Ghalib Kurdi, named after the brother of drowned toddler Alan Kurdi, would be setting sail by the end of the year.
Currently stationed at the port of Regensburg in Germany, the NGO is only waiting for equipment and the formal transfer of ownership.
Sea-Eye fundraised for the vessel and mission with the support of several groups, including the Roman Catholic church in Germany, which the NGO singled out for praise, newspaper Il Giornale reports.
The NGO’s other vessel, the Alan Kurdi, was seized by Italian authorities but was allowed to leave in June. It remains at the port of Burriana in Spain.