Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 8th of August 2019
Case name: 2019_08_08-CM180
Situation: Two boats in distress in the central Mediterranean Sea
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Thursday the 8th of August 2019, the Alarm Phone was alerted to two boats in distress off the coast of Libya. The first boat carried approximately 80 people and was rescued by SOS Mediterranée’s rescue vessel Ocean Viking the following day. The second boat carried approximately 90 people and was intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguards the following day.

CASE 1: At 21.20h, our shift team received a distress call from a rubber boat coming from Tripoli in Libya, carrying about 80 people, including 5 women and 4 children. They had left the evening prior. We informed the authorities in Malta and Italy, as well as SOS Mediterranée at 22.07h and passed on a description of the distress situation as well as a GPS position. Over the next few hours, despite trying often, we were unable to re-connect to the people on board. Only at 8.11am the next day were we able to get in touch again. They told us that they were in a bad condition and without food and in dire need of help. We tried to receive an updated GPS position. Shortly after, we received a new GPS position which we swiftly passed on to the authorities in Malta and Italy as well as SOS Mediterranée. At 9.25am, we reached them again and they told us that they could see a plane – this was our last contact to the boat. Later we learned that SOS Mediterranée had conducted a successful rescue operation.

CASE 2: At 23.42h, a fisherman called our shift team, informing us that he had encountered a rubber boat in distress off the coast of Libya, near Al-Khums, carrying approximately 90 people, including 10 women, and 15 children. According to the fisherman, the people on board had written their satellite phone number on a piece of paper and then thrown it inside a bottle over to the fisherman. He sent us the number and we tried to reach the people over the following hours, at first without success. As we did not have direct contact to the boat and no GPS position, we could not alert the authorities to this case.

Only at 14.00h on the following day did we reach the boat. They told our shift team that they had seen a plane an hour earlier, a grey one with a yellow-red tale. They were able to send us their GPS position and told us how scared they were to be returned to Libya. We spoke once more at 14.24h and 14.27h. At 14.44h, we informed the authorities in Malta and Italy, as well as SOS Mediterranée. At 14.52h, the people on board called us again. They were in panic and calling for help. At 15.55h, they told us that they had seen an airplane twice, the same one as before. They said they were afraid to be returned to Libya as it was hell there and they had been tortured there. The pregnant women were vomiting and one person was injured. It seemed clear that the airplane belonged to the European military and tasked to spot migrant boats to have them intercepted back to Libya.

At 16.56h, we reached the boat again and they were panicking as they could see a boat approaching and they believed it to be the so-called Libyan coastguard. We received a new GPS position at 17.03h and forwarded it to the authorities shortly afterwards. At 18.22h, the so-called Libyan coastguard sent us an email, informing us that they had sent the vessel “PV Obari” to the boat in distress and conducted a rescue operation. As we had suspected, the Libyan authorities had intercepted the migrant boat and returned the migrants to the place they had tried to escape from. Later on, also the fisherman confirmed that the people had been returned. He spoke of three fatalities in this case. We tried to receive a confirmation on this via the Libyan authorities but they did not respond to the request.