14/09: 14 people intercepted by Tunisian military, returned to Tunisia

15.09.2018 / 14:45 / Central Mediterranean Sea, Tunisia

WatchTheMed Alarm Phone Investigations – 14th of September 2018
Case name: 2018_09_14-CM135
Situation: 14 people intercepted by Tunisian military, returned to Tunisia
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: At 7pm CEST on Friday the 14th of September the Alarm Phone shift team was alerted by the Tunisian Red Cross about a boat in distress carrying 15 young people. We were told that the boat was close to Lampedusa. Later we received some phone numbers for people on the boat, but were unable to make contact with any of them. At 7:40pm we informed the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (IMRCC) about the case, but they told us they needed more information before they could act and that we should also inform Malta & Tunisia.

After trying to get more details, we emailed MRCC Malta with the little information that we had. At 9:11pm we received a call from IMRCC who requested more information about the case. They told us that they had rescued three boats today to Lampedusa and one to Tunisia, and wanted to know if our case was one of these boats. At 10:33 we received an email with the names of the travellers. At 0:06am IMRCC told us that they had sent rescue ships to the area south of Lampedusa, as they had received information about another boat in that area. During this time we tried many times to make contact with the boat, but our calls were never answered and sometimes did not ring. At 5:07pm we made contact with one of the numbers of the boat, and are told that the person is in Zarzis. At 6:45pm we receive further information from this person – that the boat was around 20 nautical miles from Lampedusa when an airplane came, but no Italian coastguard. After this the Tunisian military came and brought them to Zarzis.
Credibility: UP DOWN 0
Layers »
  • 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