Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigation – 14th of May 2015

Case name: 2015_05_14-CM18
Situation:Three vessels in distress in the Central Mediterranean
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea, near the coast of Libya

Summary of the Case: On Thursday the 14th of May 2015, our Alarm Phone shift team received a message from Father Mussie Zerai, informing us about a vessel in the Central Mediterranean Sea that had left Libya, carrying refugees from Eritrea and elsewhere (henceforth referred to as vessel 1). He also passed on a satellite phone number to our team but said that attempts to establish contact had been unsuccessful so far. There were about 60 people on board, including many women and children, but the position of their vessel was unknown.

In another message, Father Zerai alerted us to a second emergency situation. About 43 people, from Eritrea and Somalia, were travelling on a small rubber dinghy and their position was known (henceforth referred to as vessel 2). Following the message, water was leaking into their vessel. The shift team was able to contact the passengers around noon, who confirmed that there were more than 40 people on board who had left from Tripoli, Libya. They forwarded GPS coordinates which the shift team passed on to the rescue agencies in Rome and in Malta. Information about the vessels in distress was also passed on to the private rescue agency MOAS who stated later, however, that their rescue vessel ‘Phoenix’ was already conducting a mass rescue operation in the Central Mediterranean Sea under the direction of MRCC Rome. Shortly afterwards, MRCC Rome confirmed that they were working on both cases, vessel 1 and 2, and in another conversation around 2pm, they stated that they had located both vessels. While trying repeatedly, our shifty team was not able to establish contact to vessel 1.

Around 3pm, Father Zerai sent another message to the shift team. He had received an urgent call for help from a vessel travelling already for about two days, carrying about 95 people (henceforth referred to as vessel 3). These information were passed on to MRCC Rome who confirmed that they knew about the case but were also working on several other cases, about 10 in total. After several attempts, contact to vessel 3 could be established. The contact person on the vessel stated that their engine had broken down. The phone repeatedly disconnected so that information was retrieved only gradually: they had no water and food and a baby was on boat with serious health problems. An updated position of the vessel could be obtained which was passed on to MRCC Rome. In the early evening, the situation became even more worrisome as passengers seemed to become very anxious, also due to the setting of the sun. Up until approximately 7pm, several exchanges occurred and new coordinates were registered. Afterwards, however, contact to the passengers was lost. Also, contact to vessels 1 and 2 could not be established anymore, leaving our shift team very concerned.

Around midnight, we contacted the Maltese coastguard who stated that they were aware of the three vessels in question and that MRCC Rome was coordinating rescue operations.

In the early morning of Friday the 15th of May, our shift team sought to contact MRCC Rome. However, they put our call repeatedly on hold, apparently unwilling to share any information about the 3 vessels. We then contacted the rescue agency in Malta. They finally confirmed that all three vessels were ‘picked up’ by Italian authorities.