Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 11th of June 2017

Case name: 2017_06_11-CM107
Situation: Alarm Phone in contact with 120 people in distress north of Al Khums/Libya; all rescued
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Sunday the 11th of June 2017 at 8am, Father Mussie Zerai alerted the Alarm Phone to a boat in distress with about 120 people on board and forwarded their GPS position and satellite phone number to us. We immediately checked the position of the boat – which was about 11 kilometres off the Libyan territorial waters north of Al Khums – and also the phone’s credit. At 8.13am, we were able to briefly talk to the travellers. They informed us that they had already contacted the Italian coastguard. We asked for a confirmation of the GPS position, but then the phone connection broke down. At 8.18am, we called the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Rome and forwarded all information we had received so far. According to them, they had not been in contact with the boat in question. At 8.37am, we saw that their satellite phone’s credit had slightly decreased. At 8.46am, we were able to talk to them again. They confirmed that they were 120 people on board, but afterwards we had problems to receive an updated GPS position. At 9am, we talked to the travellers again and learned that their boat was a white rubber boat. At 9.12am, we forwarded this information to the MRCC via email. At 10.05am, we recharged the travellers’ satellite phone and also tried to reach the travellers again, but without success. At 10.21am, we talked to the MRCC in Rome again. We were told that they had ordered the two cargo vessels HH18 and STELLAR BALTIC to the estimated position of the boat in distress and asked them to conduct a rescue operation. We checked both ships on vesselfinder.com and estimated that both would need more than 4 hours to reach the boat in distress. In the following hours, we tracked the course of the two cargo vessels and the credit of the travellers’ satellite phone. Their credit remained unchanged, but although we continuously tried to call them, we did not reach them anymore. At 3.40pm, we observed that the cargo vessel HH18 had stopped its course and seemed to conduct a rescue operation. At 7pm, we talked to the MRCC in Rome again and learned that the boat in distress had been rescued. At 11.45pm, the MRCC also confirmed to us via email, that all travellers on board of the boat had been rescued.