Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 12th of October 2019
Case name: 2019_10_12-CM202
Situation: 2 cases: 25 people from Zuwarah, reached Lampedusa; 74 people from Sabratah, rescued by Ocean Viking
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:

At 3:40pm CEST on the 12th of October the alarmphone shiftteam was alerted by a relative to a boat in distress carrying 25 people which had left from Zuwarah at around 7am. We were unable to make direct contact with the boat on the Thuraya number we’d been given. At 5:33pm we received a GPS position for the boat and were told that the boat had been near to an oil station (possibly Didion field or Ashat terminal). The contact person informed the Libyan coastguard in Zuwarah at around 6:50pm. At 12:25am the next morning (13th of October) we contacted the Italian coastguard in Rome asking for any information they may have had. We also shared the informatio n with Ocean Viking who answered that they would head in the direction of the boat to investigate, however they did not find anything. At 5:40pm the relative confirmed that the people were safe in Lampedusa.

At 4:20pm CEST on the 12th of October the alarmphone shiftteam was alerted to another boat in distress from Sabratah carrying 74 men. At 4:30pm we alerted the Italian coastguard. At 5:39pm we learned from Ocean Viking that they were heading towards the last known position of the boat. At 6:33pm we received an updated GPS location for the boat which we passed on to both Ocean Viking and the Italian coastguard. At 9:23pm we received an email from Ocean Viking saying that they had been alerted by an oil vessel to a boat nearby and were going to investigate. At 10:03pm we learned via email that Ocean Viking were beginning a rescue of a boat carrying approximately 60 people. At 12:08am (13th of October) Ocean Viking confirmed that they had rescued all 74 people.