09/06: 60 travellers from Zuwarah rescued

10.06.2018 / 18:06 / Central Mediterranean Sea

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations –09th of June 2018

Case name: 2018_06_09-CM130
Situation: 60 travellers from Zuwarah rescued
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case:

On Saturday, 9th of June, at 5:06pm, we were alerted to a rubber boat that had left Zuwarah at 5:30am local time, carrying approximately 60 persons, among them children and women. We tried to reach the satellite telephone of the boat but couldn’t establish a connection. At 5:23pm we received a GPS position of the boat. At 5:34pm we passed all information to the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Rome. Afterwards we reloaded the balance of the satellite telephone of the boat. We then tried to find out an updated GPS position, but still couldn’t establish a connection to the boat. At 6:52pm we called MRCC Rome again that supposed the boat would be among the ones the rescued in the area. We continued to try to reach the boat. At 6:15pm, we informed the light aircraft Colibri that was operating in the area about the case. We sent an email with all information to the respective authorities to document the alert. At 6:30pm we called MRCC Rome again. They stated our boat had been rescued by an Italian vessel to Italy.

Credibility:

Border police patrols
While the exact location of patrols is of course constantly changing, this line indicates the approximate boundary routinely patrolled by border guards’ naval assets. In the open sea, it usually correspond to the outer extent of the contiguous zone, the area in which “State may exercise the control necessary to prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws” (UNCLOS, art. 33). Data source: interviews with border police officials.
Coastal radars
Approximate radar beam range covered by coastal radars operating in the frame of national marine traffic monitoring systems. The actual beam depends from several different parameters (including the type of object to be detected). Data source: Finmeccanica.
Exclusive Economic Zone
Maritime area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea in which the coastal state exercises sovereign rights for the purposes of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, the seabed and its subsoil and the superjacent waters. Its breadth is 200 nautical miles from the straight baselines from which the territorial sea is measured (UNCLOS, Arts. 55, 56 and 57). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans
Frontex operations
Frontex has, in the past few years, carried out several sea operations at the maritime borders of the EU. The blue shapes indicate the approximate extend of these operations. Data source: Migreurop Altas.
Mobile phone coverage
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network coverage. Data source: Collins Mobile Coverage.
Oil and gas platforms
Oil and gas platforms in the Mediterranean. Data source:
Search and Rescue Zone
An area of defined dimensions within which a given state is has the responsibility to co-ordinate Search and Rescue operations, i.e. the search for, and provision of aid to, persons, ships or other craft which are, or are feared to be, in distress or imminent danger. Data source: IMO availability of search and rescue (SAR) services - SAR.8/Circ.3, 17 June 2011.
Territorial Waters
A belt of sea (usually extending up to 12 nautical miles) upon which the sovereignty of a coastal State extends (UNCLOS, Art. 2). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans