Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigation – 30th of May 2015

Case name: 2015_05_30-CM20
Situation: About 100 people in distress near Tripoli/Libya, all rescued
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: At around 6am on Saturday the 30th of May 2015, the Alarm Phone shift team received a satellite phone call from passengers on a vessel in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. About 100 people, including many pregnant women were travelling on a large Zodiac vessel. The passengers asked for rescue.

At first we obtained the (incorrect) information on the phone that the vessel had left from Hammamet in Tunisia at around 3am. Knowing that the situation on board was comparatively stable, we tried through repeated conversations with the passengers to receive the exact coordinates of the vessel.

About one hour later we finally received the coordinates indicating the position of the vessel, which in fact was close to Tripoli/Libya. We also learned that the vessel had left at around 11pm the evening before. They informed us about difficult weather conditions and that the vessel was overloaded. Moreover, water was entering the vessel.

Our shift team then turned to the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre Rome and passed on the received information. They seemed cooperative and asked us not to hesitate to contact them if more information emerged. While several attempts were made, contact to the passengers could not be re-established until they contacted our shift team at around 9am. The situation had deteriorated, the passengers reported that their vessel was not stable and that they were in great danger. Half an hour later, the passengers told us that they could see a vessel in the distance moving in their direction but, a few minutes later, they stated that the vessel had redirected its course and was not approaching them anymore.

Then, contact to the passengers was lost for a long period of time. We had detected the commercial vessel MS Stjerneborg in vicinity of the vessel in distress that seemed to be conducting a search in the area, presumably following directions from MRCC Rome. When the people in distress stated that the MS Stjerneborg seemed to be moving away we sought to make this known to MRCC Rome. At around 11.30am, in a brief conversation, MRCC Rome was unwilling to give out any information concerning the vessel in question and cut the line without listening and taking note of the information our shift team had gathered.

At noon, the passengers were able to reach us once again. They wanted to thank us and informed us that they had already been rescued by the MS Stjerneborg. It later emerged that 436 people were rescued on that day in the Central Mediterranean Sea, by the Italian navy and coastguard as well as by two merchant vessels.