Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 5th of August 2016

Case name: 2016_08_05-CM75
Situation: 98 travellers from Libya rescued to Italy, via Father Zerai‬
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:‪ At 7.30am the Alarm Phone Team received an SOS message from Father Zerai, however we only reached the travellers in distress at 8.15am, after many unsuccessful attempts. They were nervous and asked to be rescued as quick as possible, as their engine had stopped. They said that they were about 150 people on board of a white plastic boat. We forwarded the information and an updated GPS-position to the Italian coastguard, but also to Doctors without Borders/MSF, whose rescue boat Dignity I was the closest to the boat in distress North of the Libyan city Al Khoms.
Again and again our shift team was called by the travellers, who were in panic, because no rescue was in sight. We uploaded the credit of their Thuraya Phone and tried to calm them down. At 9.15am, we finally managed to talk to the crew of Dignity I directly. They told us that the Italian Coastguard had asked them to rescue a boat that was far from their current position. We sent them the details of our case again to check whether it was identical with theirs. At 10.17 they finally confirmed to us that they were working on our case, as the description and position matched. They estimated that they would take between 3 and 4 hours to reach the boat.
We informed the travellers that help was underway and uploaded their credit again. At 10.52am they sent us a new position (apparently their engine was working again, as they had moved North), which we forwarded to the Coastguard and Doctors without Borders. The travellers calmed down a bit and awaited their rescue. However, as they were still waiting 2 hours later, they were panicking again. Finally at 1.45pm they were rescued by Doctors without Borders, as the Dignity crew confirmed to us at 2.50pm. On Twitter, the crew stated that they had rescued 98 persons and that all people were well. The rescue operation was one of 4 that was conducted during the day by the Italian Coastguard and the civil rescue boats of Sea Watch, Doctors without Borders and SOS Mediterranean. Together they rescued 654 travellers according to a press release of the Italian Coastguard.
In our case it took again about six hours from the first SOS call of the people on the boat until their final rescue. We ask the political leaders: why do rescue operations take such a long time in an area, which is an often-used route for boats from Libya? And what would have happened, if civil rescue boats like Dignity I were not patrolling in the area?