Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 1st August 2019
Case name: 2019_08_01-CM178
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to three boats; one intercepted to Libya and two rescued by Open Arms
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Thursday the 1st of August the Alarm Phone was alerted to three boats in distress in the central Mediterranean Sea. Two boats were rescued by the civil rescue ship Open Arms, whilst one boat was intercepted by the Libyan coastguard.

At 3.20pm CEST, the Alarm Phone was called by a group of 51 travellers in distress. They had left from the Libyan town Zuwarah on a wooden boat, and they told us that water was entering the boat. The travellers managed to send us their position, and we immediately alerted the relevant rescue authorities, including civil search and rescue vessels. At 3.32pm we spoke to the travellers again, and shortly after they sent us their updated position, which we forwarded to all relevant rescue authorities at 3.43pm. At 4.02pm Open Arms confirmed that they had found the travellers and carried out a successful rescue mission.

At 5.56pm a boat with around 35 travellers, including two women and 10 children, called the Alarm Phone. Their engine was not working and they had run out of food and water. After this it was no longer possible to reach the boat. At 6.04pm we informed all the relevant rescue authorities. Later in the evening we learned that the travellers had been intercepted and brought back to Libya.

At 7.40pm we were called by a boat carrying 67 travellers, including two children and 17 women of which two were pregnant. They told us that they had run out of fuel as well as food and water, and they forwarded us their position. At 8.13pm we alerted the relevant rescue authorities, including civil actors. Afterwards we could not reach the boat for a long time, and only at 2am did they manage to contact us again and send us their updated position, showing that they had moved a lot further north from the position they initially sent us. At 2.17am we forwarded the updated position to the rescue authorities. At 2.29am Open Arms, whom we had also given information about the distress of the boat, informed us that they had spotted the travellers and would commence the rescue operation.
After carrying out the rescue operation, Open Arms further informed us that the travellers were all safe but suffering from fatigue and dehydration. Two pregnant women were immediately transferred to Lampedusa for medical reasons, whilst everyone else were refused disembarkation by Italy and Malta. Only after 19 days of this inhuman blockade Open Arms could finally disembark in Lampedusa.