07/08: 40 people in distress near Zawiya, intercepted back to Libya

08.08.2019 / 09:52 / Central Mediterranean Sea, Libya

Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 7th of August 2019
Case name: 2019_08_07-CM179
Situation: Boat in distress in the central Mediterranean Sea
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Wednesday 7th of August 2019, the Alarm Phone was alerted at 12.25h by a boat in distress off the coast of Libya, coming from Zawiya and carrying approximately 40 people. The boat was later intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguards and brought to Tripoli in Libya.
At 13.07h, we informed the Maltese and Italian authorities to the distress situation. In our repeated conversations with the people on the boat, they stressed again and again how terrified they were about being returned to Libya. We were trying to receive their accurate GPS position but often received unclear positions. At 13.47h, they told us that they could see a platform nearby, presumably the El-Bouri oil platforms, as well as a red vessel. The NGO vessel Alan Kurdi of Sea-Eye was not far from that location and was available to conduct a search and rescue operation.
At 14.16h the people on board could see an airplane above them. At 14.37h they told us that there were 7 women on board, including a pregnant woman. There was also one infant on board. They were sick and in need of water. They had some petrol left but said that soon their engine would stop. Over the next few hours, we tried again and again to receive an accurate GPS position but could not reach the migrant travellers anymore.
Only the next day did we find out via the Libyan authorities that the boat had been intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguards and brought to Tripoli in Libya. According to the Libyan authorities, there were 45 people on board, including 7 women and 1 child.
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

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