Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigation – 29th of May 2015

Case name: 2015_05_29-CM19
Situation:Two vessels in distress off the coast of Libya
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: In the early morning on Friday the 29th of May, Father Mussie Zerai alerted our shift team to a vessel in distress that had left the Libyan coast at around 2am in the morning. He passed on the position of the vessel as well as a satellite phone number and informed us that the passengers were refugees from Eritrea. At first, contact to the passengers could not be established but around 8am, we reached them and they informed us that there were approximately 650 people on board, including 200 women and 30 children. They passed on new coordinates and asked us to alert the Italian coastguard.

We informed the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Rome via email and then directly via phone. While taking note of the information passed on to them, MRCC Rome did not react in a cooperative manner and, instead of quickly following up on the case, harassed our shift team, repeatedly asking for our names and addresses. They suggested that they would send the police as we could be involved in ‘trafficking’. Despite repeated attempts to urge them to focus on the case and take immediate steps, MRCC Rome merely stated that the vessel was in Libyan waters so that we should call the (largely non-existent) Libyan coastguard. They cut the call without informing us about whether or not they would launch a rescue procedure.

Our shift team contacted the people on the vessel around 10am, informing them that MRCC Rome had been notified. They stated that there was a helicopter near them as well as a large vessel and asked us whether we could reach out to MRCC Rome again to find out where they might be brought if rescued by the vessel. After this call, contact to the passengers could not be re-established.

At noon, we also called the Maltese coastguard and they had already been informed about the vessel in question but refused to confirm whether or not a rescue operation was taking place. As MRCC Rome, they also ended phone conversation by hanging up. Our shift team sought to draw attention to the case by contacting several other organisations, including the UNHCR, MOAS and Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF). Finally, around 2pm, we received the confirmation that a rescue operation was under way.

A few hours later, still on Friday the 29th of May, we again received a message from Father Zerai in the early afternoon. Following his account, approximately 400 people were in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea, asking for help. Despite several attempts, contact to the passengers could not be established. We reached out to MSF and passed on the received information, that had already been sent to MRCC Rome and RCC Malta by Father Zerai before. In the early evening, the Maltese coastguard confirmed that they knew about the case but did not have any further information about the vessel. We also learned that MRCC Rome sent a rescue vessel to the location of the vessel in distress. On their twitter account, the Italian Navy reported of several rescue operations taking place south of Lampedusa. While 86 people were rescued from two rubber vessels, 11 people had died.

On Saturday the 30th of May, through the media and government sources, it emerged that 4243 people were rescued on the 29th of May in the Central Mediterranean Sea, the largest number of rescues in 2015. 22 rescue operations took place and 17 dead bodies were found on three vessels. Various navy and coastguard vessels as well as merchant vessels were involved in these large-scale rescue operations. We, of course, respect the commitment shown by rescue agencies and sailors who have done the utmost to rescue more than 4000 human lives at sea. At the same time we mourn the loss of 17 lives. They could still all be alive if there were secure paths toward Europe.