Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 22nd of July 2016

Case name: 2016_07_22CM72
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to 3 boats in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Cases: On Friday the 22nd of July 2016, the WatchTheMed Alarm Phone was alerted, via Father Mussie Zerai, to three distress situations in the Central Mediterranean Sea. In all three cases, Father Zerai had made an initial call to the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Rome.

When our shift team learned about vessel 1, at 7am, we were able to charge the travellers’ satellite phone, as they had nearly run out of credit. While repeatedly trying to contact the vessel, it was not possible to reach the people and no GPS position could be obtained. Only late in the evening, at 10.42pm, MRCC Rome confirmed that vessel 1 had been rescued and that the travellers had been disembarked in Italy.

Father Zerai informed us about vessel 2 around 7am. Following his information, there were about 150 people on board of a white rubber vessel. Again our shift team was able to charge their satellite phone. At first we were unable to reach the travellers but we kept monitoring the credit and noticed that they continued to use the satellite phone. We charged it once again 7.31am. Ten minutes later we reached the travellers for the first time but it was difficult to hear them. When unable to communicate even after reaching them once again a few minutes later, we sent them a text message, explaining how to obtain and send GPS coordinates. In a difficult conversation with them at 7.47am we learned that there were 120 people on the boat and that they were in need of help. Due to disruptions, the contact broke off also in several attempts to communicate afterwards and we learned that Father Zerai, also in contact with the boat, had similar communication difficulties. At 8.16am we were able to reach a person who had knowledge about the boat in distress. The man, a Libyan fisherman who had encountered the boat when he was fishing about 2-3 hours away from the coast, told us that he had detected the boat at 4am in the morning. The boat-people had asked if he could call rescue because their Thuraya credit was down. The fisherman did so and stated that he offered taking them back to Libya but they wanted to continue to move on. Following his account, there were 12-15 women and 3-4 children among the group. After 8.27am, our shift team noticed that the satellite credit stopped decreasing and we did not receive any further calls from the boat. As with vessel 1, we received the information that vessel 2 had been rescued and its passengers been brought to Italy at 10.42pm.

At 8.22am, Father Zerai informed us that he had received a distress call from vessel 3, a wooden fishing boat, carrying about 170 people, including 10 children, 40 women, 3 of whom were pregnant. Following his account, most people were from Eritrea and water had started to leak into the vessel. We were unable to reach vessel 3 directly. At 8.57am we received GPS coordinates, showing the vessel north-east from Khoms/Libya. In the following hours, our shift team monitored the rapidly decreasing credit of the satellite phone kept on vessel 3. At 12.30pm, Father Zerai told us that a rescue operation had been launched and at 1.45pm we were informed that the people had been rescued and were in the process of being brought to Italy.

In the evening, MRCC Rome stated that 2150 people had been rescued on the day in 18 SAR operations.