BERLIN (AP) — Rupert Neudeck, the co-founder of Germany-based humanitarian aid group Cap Anamur, which helped to rescue more than 10,000 Vietnamese "boat people," has died, the organization said. He was 77.

Neudeck, a former journalist who founded the Cologne-based organization with his wife Christel in 1979 in response to the Vietnamese refugee crisis, died Tuesday in Germany. Further details weren't being released at the family's request, the organization said.

Following the Vietnamese crisis, Cap Anamur expanded to provide humanitarian aid globally, focusing on medical care and education.

In 2004, it clashed with the Italian government when it tried to dock in the country after rescuing 37 Africans from the Mediterranean. It eventually landed in Sicily after a three-week standoff, but the boat was immediately seized and most of the refugees were deported.