Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 11th of May 2019

Case name: 2019_05_11-CM159
Situation: Around 80 travellers from Zuwara, most probably brought back to Libya
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded

Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Cases:

On Saturday, 11th of May, at 2 :21pm CEST, the Alarm Phone was called by a boat that had left from Zuwara, carrying around 80 people. Their engine had stopped and water was entering the boat. They saw several boats and an aircraft in their vicinity. At 2.55pm the travellers managed to find their GPS position on their satellite phone. We didn’t manage to establish a connection to the so-called Libyan Coast Guard to inform them. At 4 :01pm, we called MRCC Rome and alerted them to the distress. At 4:20pm, we sent an email with all relevant information to the Italian authority. At 4:23pm, the travellers called the Alarm Phone. They reported that the boats in their vicinity would not move to assist them. They informed us as well that one woman on board was in labour. In the next hour, we monitored the credit of the Thuraya phone to ensure the boat would still to be able to communicate. At 5:15pm, MRCC Rome informed us that they had passed all information to the Libyan authorities that would coordinate the case. We couldn’t reach the travellers any more until 6:19pm, when they informed us that one person had fallen into the sea and gone missing. They further reported that one of the nearby vessels would circle around them but not intervene. At 6:35pm, we received an updated GPS position of the boat. At 7:02pm, we passed the new location to MRCC Rome by call and email. At 7 :05pm, we were called by the boat again. Their battery was going low. At 7:38pm they called again, but we couldn’t give them any update on their rescue. At 7:58pm, we managed to reach an officer of the scLYCG. He informed us that a patrol boat would reach at the position within 2 hours. At 8:10pm we talked to the people on board and informed them. We then stayed in contact with the travellers and monitored their situation. Last contact was at 9:25pm. At 10:15pm we tried to reach the Libyan officer, but couldn’t get through. At 10:33pm, we called MRCC Rome, that said the boat had been rescued by the Libyan navy one hour before. We tried to confirm this information with the people directly, but could never establish a connection again.