Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 15th of April 2017

Case name: 2017_04_15-CM103
Situation: 160 people in distress rescued north of Zawiya/Libya
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Saturday the 15th of April 2017 at 6.46am, the Alarm Phone was directly called from a boat in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea, which had departed from Zawiya/Libya with 160 people on board. At 6.56am, we called the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Rome and forwarded the Thuraya satellite phone number of the travellers. In the next three hours, we tried to reach the travellers every 10 minutes, but without success. We checked the satellite phone’s credit, which was at 153.1 units and remained unchanged until 10am. At 7.35am, we also send a SMS to the travellers, asking for their GPS position. At 9am, we wrote an email to the crew of Jugend Rettet’s IUVENTA, informing them about the boat in distress and forwarding its satellite phone number. At 10am, we were able to speak to the travellers again and asked them to forward their current GPS position to us. At 10.16am, we received their position via SMS. At 10.20am we called MRCC Rome again and forwarded the GPS position of the boat in distress. They confirmed to us that they would search for the boat. At 10.33am, we forwarded this information via SMS to the travellers. At 10.35am, the travellers phone credit was at 134.2 units. At 10.50am, we provided MRCC Rome via email with the GPS coordinates. At 11.25am, we also forwarded the position to the crew of IUVENTA, because they were still in the area north of Zawiya. At 11.38am, the travellers phone credit went down to 111.9 units and at 12am it was 107.4 units. At 12.30am, we tried to reach the travellers again, and at 12.40am we received an updated GPS position via SMS. We immediately asked for further information, but received no answer. At 12.44am, we forwarded the updated position of the boat to the MRCC in Rome via email. In the following hour, their satellite phone’s credit went slightly down to 105 units at 1.41pm. At 2.15pm, we asked them for another updated position. At 2.17pm, they sent us their current position via SMS. At 2.18pm, their phone’s credit went down to 94 units. One hour afterwards, at 3.09pm, they wrote in another text message ‘We are ok but we need your help right now’. At 3.22pm, their credit was at 79.1 units. At 3.23pm, we sent another text message and called them again at 3.25pm. They heard that they were in severe distress and asked for help. At 3.30pm, we called MRCC Rome again and were told that they did not need an updated position because they were already in contact with the boat and had all the information necessary to perform a rescue operation. We asked for a confirmation that a rescue operation was ongoing, but received no answer. In the following two hours, we regularly tried to call the travellers, but did not reach them. We monitored their phone’s credit, which remained at 65.7 units from 3.40pm onwards. In the evening of that day, at 11.20pm, the MRCC in Rome confirmed to us that the boat had been rescued.