Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 2nd of July 2019
Case name: 2019_07_02-CM171
Situation: Boat in distress in the central Mediterranean Sea
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Tuesday the 2nd of July 2019, the Alarm Phone was called at 23.12h CEST by a man who stated that he was among a group of 60 people, including 20 women and several small children, who were in distress in the central Mediterranean Sea after leaving from Zawiya, Libya. He called not from a satellite phone but a Libyan phone number, indicating that they still had phone coverage and were not too far off the north African coast. Following his account, they had embarked on their journey at 21.30h and could still see lights along the Libyan shore. He stated that water was entering the boat as one of the dinghy’s tubes was deflating, and they were afraid to die. It was clear that they could not continue and they requested immediate rescue, even if this meant being returned to Libya. We asked him to forward their GPS location, which the man said he would try. However, we were never able to get in contact with him or the boat again.

Despite the lack of a GPS position of the boat, we decided to alert authorities to the situation, and at 23.41h we sent an email to the Italian and Maltese coastguards as well as to the so-called Libyan coastguards. We also tried to reach the Libyan authorities via the phone, but they could not be reached. At 23.53h, MRCC Rome merely stated that they would contact the Libyan authorities. Throughout the night we were unable to reach either the boat or the Libyan authorities.

At 7.45h on July 3, MRCC Rome stated that they could not share any information with us. Given the lack of an adequate reaction by authorities, we decided to make the distress situation public:

Alarm Phone Tweet 1: “Last night, 23.20h CEST, a man called Alarm Phone who said he was among a group of 60 people on a boat in distress off the coast of Zawiya, Libya. According to him there were 20 women & small children on board, one of the tubes was deflating & water was entering from that side.”

Tweet 2: “According to the man they could see lights of the libyan cost & they could not move on. He stated that they wanted to be rescued even if this meant being returned to Libya - they had no other option. After the 1st call, contact to the man broke & could not be re-established.”

Tweet 3: “We informed the so-called Libyan coastguards via email. We also tried to reach them directly via the phone, which was, however, not possible, which was, however, not possible, which shows once more how dysfunctional the Libyan authorities are. For 11 hours now, the Libyan authorities could not be reached.”

Tweet 4: “At 23.41h we informed MRCC #Rome about the situation. The #Italian authorities replied that they would ensure to inform the Libyan authorities. We have no idea what happened to the boat & the 60 people. We hope they survived, even if this means being back in an ongoing warzone.”

At 12.47h, the Libyan authorities confirmed they had sent out a patrol boat to search for the boat in distress and would send a second one. At 14.11h, they said they were patrolling the area but had not found the boat. We were never able to re-establish contact to the people. The fate of the 60 people remains unknown.