Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigation – 15th of April 2015

Case name: 2015_04_15-CM13
Situation: Vessel in distress carrying approximately 350 people
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Libya

Summary of the Case: On the 15th of April 2015, the shift team of the Alarm Phone received a message from Father Mussie Zerai, notifying us about a vessel in distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea, carrying approximately 350 people, amongst them many women and children, mostly from Eritrea. Father Zerai passed on the position of the vessel and stated that the situation was very urgent as water was entering the vessel. The shift team reached out to the people on the vessel but communication was difficult in the first exchanges. We sent out a message to the MRCC Rome, passing on coordinates and the satellite phone number. We also drew their attention to two gas tankers that we spotted in vicinity of the vessel in distress. In a phone conversation, the boat-people stated that a vessel was approaching.

The shift team was then contacted by a relative or friend who told us about three vessels that had left Libya the night before, carrying approximately 1150 people, mainly from Eritrea. We also passed on these information to MRCC Rome. MRCC Rome confirmed that they had detected the vessel in question in Libyan waters but refused to pass on further information.

On the 16th of April the Italian coastguard issued a press release, confirming that 1194 people had been rescued from three vessels in distress. They also stated that the vessel ‘Dattilo’ had rescued another 592 people. It is not entirely clear whether they had been rescued on the 14th already or on the 15th of April which is due to the fact that many rescue operations took place on the 12th and 13th of April. Some of the rescued people were distributed amongst different vessels before being disembarked only days later in Italy.