| May 3 | Aurora rescues 71 people from an unseaworthy rubber boat with the assistance of Seabird 3 and safely disembarks them in Lampedusa. |
| May 5 | The crew of Ocean Viking rescues 2 separate boats in the Libyan SAR zone. 108 people including an 11 month old are safely brought onboard. |
| May 8 | Sea Watch 5 rescues 2 separate boats, one of which had reached out to the AlarmPhone, with a total of 190 people. The distant port of Marina di Carrara is assigned as Port Of Safety (POS), adding 130 nautical miles of navigation. |
| May 9 | The crew of the rescue ship Humanity1 rescues 125 people in international waters. Ravenna is assigned as POS by Italian authorities, which is 1500km away. With the assistance of Seabird 3, Sea Punks 1 is able to locate and rescue a wooden boat with 83 people in Tunisian SAR, all of whom are safely disembarked in Lampedusa. (1) |
| May 10 | Nadir’s crew assists 62 people on a drifting rubber boat south of Lampedusa following a Frontex mayday relay. When Nadir arrives on scene, two toddlers have already died. Another person is declared dead on Nadir despite all resuscitation efforts. (2) |
| May 12 | 69 people aboard an unseaworthy vessel are rescued in the Maltese SAR zone by Nadir.
With aerial assistance by Seabird 1, Solidaire rescues 62 people aboard an overcrowded rubber boat in Libyan SAR. The distant port of Genoa is assigned, prolonging the survivors’ time at sea. Over the coming hours, Solidaire finds an additional 4 boats, bringing the total number of people rescued to 279. |
| May 16 | Following distress calls from AlarmPhone and Seabird 1, Nadir discovers an iron boat with 54 people in the Maltese SAR zone. The people were disembarked safely in Lampedusa. |
| May 17 | Following alerts from AlarmPhone, the Ocean Viking finds a boat with 77 people, already assesed by Aurora. They are brought safely onboard. Two more vessels are rescued later, bringing the total number of survivors to 276. The plane Seabird 1 spotts 6 boats in distress over the course of the day on May 17. Seabird 1 alerts authorities – no response. Once again, civil rescue ships stepped in. Together with Sea Punks, Ocean Viking and Aurora, 200 people are brought to safety. (3) |
| May 18 | In the morning, Humanity1 rescues 100 people from two unseaworthy boats. Bari is assigned as POS. In the afternoon, Nadir encounters a distress boat with 34 people, who are brought to Lampedusa by the Italian Coast Guard. |
| May 19 | Nadir finds an overcrowded double-decker wooden boat in distress. Nadir partially embarks the people before the Italian Coast Guard onboards the 120 survivors safely. |
| May 22 | After two alerts by AlarmPhone, Solidaire rescues a total of 252 people and is eventually allowed to disembark in Salerno. Following an AlarmPhone alert, Aurora rescues 50 people from a distress boat. Astral finds and rescues 80 people about 14 nautical miles from Lampedusa. All people are safely brought to Lampedusa. |
| May 26 | At night, a merchant vessel rescues 35 people but can’t complete the rescue due to bad weather and darkness. Despite the Captain’s concerns for the legal implications, the merchant vessel was ordered to disembark the survivors in Libya against international law. A supply vessel rescues 26 people from the same group but couldn’t recover the rest due again to worsening sea conditions. They were assigned Lampedusa as place of safety by Italian authorities. Ocean Viking arrives shortly after and evacuates the 53 remaining people. Survivors tell the crew that at least 3 people fell overboard during their dramatic journey. Ocean Viking was assigned Livorno, over 1150km away, as place of safety. |
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| May 28 | Aurora rescues a drifting boat with over 50 people, also alerted by AlarmPhone. |
| May 31 | Seabird crew carries out several flights over the Mediterranean. During one flight, a distress case with 29 people aboard an unseaworthy wooden boat is alerted and Astral responds, safely embarking everyone who are later transferred to Italian authorities. |
