WatchTheMed Alarm Phone Investigations – 14th of October 2019
Case name: 201_10_14-CM204
Situation: Boats in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Monday, the 14th of October, the Alarm Phone was alerted to two boats in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. The fate of the first boat, carrying about 80 people from Sabratah, remains unknown. The second boat, carrying 76 people from Al Khums was eventually rescued to Malta, after yet another long delay.

Case 1: At 10.30am CEST, the Alarm Phone was alerted by a relative to a boat in distress off the coast of Libya. According to him, the boat had left from Sabratha at 2am and carried around 80 people, including children. We tried to contact the boat repeatedly over several hours but could not get through. At 16.58h and 17.07h, the people on board called us but due to a lot of background noises, it was difficult to communicate with them. At 17.38h we received a partial GPS position. After several attempts to reach the boat, we informed RCC Malta, MRCC Rome as well as the so-called Libyan coastguards. We could not re-establish contact to the boat and do not know what happened to the 80 people. We fear they were intercepted, or worse.

Case 2: In the afternoon, the Alarm Phone was contacted by a second boat in distress. The people told us that they had fled from the Tajoura camp in Libya where over 50 migrants were killed in July. They told us: “there is no water and no food on board, some people are sick and there are big waves.” Over the next few hours, we tried to obtain their GPS position. Once we had localised them, at 18.35h, we alerted authorities in Italy, Malta and reluctantly also in Libya. At 19.50h and 19.57h we spoke to MRCC Rome and they stated that they would alert the Libyan authorities.

At 20.13h, we spoke to the migrant travellers again and they told us that they had spotted a plane above them. We in turn informed the authorities about this. At 20.27h, RCC Malta stated that they had a visual of the boat via an air asset.

We were in contact with the boat again at 21h. At 21.07h, we updated RCC Malta. RCC Malta stated that they were working on the case. At 21.50h, the people on board told us that water was entering their boat. After this call, we lost contact to the boat for several hours. At 22.20h RCC Malta confirmed that they had sent a helicopter to the boat in distress. Clearly, the Maltese authorities were again monitoring the boat from the air instead of quickly sending out a rescue asset. At 23.29h, RCC Malta stated that the Libyans were in charge and that they had no new information for us. For several hours afterwards, RCC Malta could not be reached.

We re-established contact to the boat at 00.32am. They stated that they were trying to move the water out of the boat. They were scared and no rescue was in sight. At 00.38am, they said that their rubber boat was losing air.

At 1.42am, the people on board sent us an updated GPS position which we passed on shortly after to all the authorities. They position showed that the boat had moved on further north.

At 2.30am, 4am, 5.12am and 6am, we spoke with the people on board and tried to support them in their distress as much as we could. During the night RCC Malta was not reachable for many hours – only at 5.55am could we speak to them again. They said that they had no information on the case.

At 6.50am, the people on board said that they were doing better but had run out of fuel and could not move on.

At 7.20am, RCC Malta said once more that the Libyans were responsible, not them. We responded that the Libyans could not be reached. We asked RCC Malta to then contact the Libyans to which the officer responded: “but you just said that they cannot be reached”.

At 7.42am, 7.54am, 8.25am, 8.28am, 8.30am, 8.37am, 8.40am, 8.55am, 9.08am, and 9.10am we spoke to the people on board.

At 10.55am we once more informed all authorities about this ongoing distress situation.

At 12.21h, the people on board said: "We really need help. Two days at sea. Two days at sea."

At 12.46h, we send once more an update to all authorities.

Finally, at 13.33h, the Maltese authorities confirmed that they had send out a boat. In the meantime, the boat people could no longer be reached.

At 14.35h, the Maltese authorities said that the boat may have just been rescued. At 14.55h, they said that the people were rescued near Malta.

In the afternoon, their safe arrival was confirmed to us. There were 76 people on board. While we were relieved to hear that they were rescued, this case once more highlights the cynical strategies of delay that European coastguards engage in, risking the lives of these 76 people.