Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 19th of July 2016

Case name: 2016_07_19CM71
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 Tuesday the 19th of July 2016, the WatchTheMed Alarm Phone was alerted to 3 distress situations in the Central Mediterranean Sea.

In the early hours of the day, Father Mussie Zerai passed on information concerning vessel 1 in distress, carrying about 130 people. While our shift team was initially unable to reach the travellers, we could check their phone credit and saw that they had sufficient credit. At 7.27am we were able to reach them and it was clear that they were anxious and in distress. Following their account, they had already contacted the coastguards. We asked for updated coordinates and agreed to communicate again, about 10 minutes later. Over the following hour, we tried to obtain the exact GPS positions, and they seemed to still be within Libyan waters.

After receiving information via Father Zerai of a second boat, we successful established contact with vessel 2 shortly before 8am. The travellers passed on their GPS position and informed us that another refugee boat was in their vicinity. At 8.07am we learned that they had problems with their engine. At 8.36am we were informed that water was coming into their vessel and they asked for urgent help, even by the Libyan coastguard. We informed MRCC Rome at 8.40am and they took on the case, stating that they would presumably inform the Libyan coastguard. At 8.47am we informed the travellers and asked them to stay as calm as possible. After several further distress calls from vessel 2, the travellers informed us at 9.02am that they were able to see a rescue vessel approaching. After several unsuccessful attempts to reach them, they told us at 10.11am that they could see a helicopter nearby, which was the last contact our shift team had with vessel 2.

When Father Zerai passed on details of a third boat in distress off the coast of Libya, carrying about 150 people, including 70 women and 3 children, we tried to establish contact with vessel 3 at 11.01am but were unable to reach them. However, we were able to upload credit onto their satellite phone at 11.04am. We were never able to contact the travellers directly but passed on the information that we had to MRCC Rome.

While rescue of all three vessels cannot be undoubtedly verified, it seems highly likely that they were rescued and the passengers disembarked in Italy. MRCC Rome later announced that they had rescued 3200 people in 25 SAR operations that day. They had also discovered one fatality on one of the rescued boats.