05/05: 150 travellers in distress from Sabratah, Libya, probably rescued to Italy

06.05.2016 / 21:55 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 5th of May 2016
Case name: 2016_05_05-CM59
Situation: 150 travellers in distress from Sabratah, Libya, probably rescued to Italy
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Thursday, the 5th of May 2016, at 5 am, the Alarm Phone was alerted, by Father Mussie Zerai, to a rubberboar in distress with 150 person on board. The boat had started the day before between 8 and 9pm from Libya, near Sabratah. We checked and later uploaded the credit of the travellers' satellite phone. At 7.28 we could establish a direct contact with the travellers: They explained that they their rubber-boat was leaking. They could not give us an exact GPS-position, because their phone was in Arabic and none of the travellers could read Arabic. We informed the Italian and the Maltese Coastguards about the case. At 7.28am in a call with the Italian Coastguard, the officer on duty asserted that the boat in distress had already been detected and that a warship was underway to carry out the rescue operation. At 12pm the Italian Coastguard told us that the boat had very probably been rescued. They emphasized that they were working on several cases of distress in the area. This was later confirmed by media reports. An article on Friday stated that many boats had left Libya the day before and that about 1800 people were rescued within 24 hours.

Credibility:

Border police patrols
While the exact location of patrols is of course constantly changing, this line indicates the approximate boundary routinely patrolled by border guards’ naval assets. In the open sea, it usually correspond to the outer extent of the contiguous zone, the area in which “State may exercise the control necessary to prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws” (UNCLOS, art. 33). Data source: interviews with border police officials.
Coastal radars
Approximate radar beam range covered by coastal radars operating in the frame of national marine traffic monitoring systems. The actual beam depends from several different parameters (including the type of object to be detected). Data source: Finmeccanica.
Exclusive Economic Zone
Maritime area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea in which the coastal state exercises sovereign rights for the purposes of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, the seabed and its subsoil and the superjacent waters. Its breadth is 200 nautical miles from the straight baselines from which the territorial sea is measured (UNCLOS, Arts. 55, 56 and 57). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans
Frontex operations
Frontex has, in the past few years, carried out several sea operations at the maritime borders of the EU. The blue shapes indicate the approximate extend of these operations. Data source: Migreurop Altas.
Mobile phone coverage
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network coverage. Data source: Collins Mobile Coverage.
Oil and gas platforms
Oil and gas platforms in the Mediterranean. Data source:
Search and Rescue Zone
An area of defined dimensions within which a given state is has the responsibility to co-ordinate Search and Rescue operations, i.e. the search for, and provision of aid to, persons, ships or other craft which are, or are feared to be, in distress or imminent danger. Data source: IMO availability of search and rescue (SAR) services - SAR.8/Circ.3, 17 June 2011.
Territorial Waters
A belt of sea (usually extending up to 12 nautical miles) upon which the sovereignty of a coastal State extends (UNCLOS, Art. 2). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans