Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 29th of November 2019
Case name: 2019_11_29-CM215
Situation: Alarm Phone alerted to two boats leaving from Libya; the first was probably intercepted by the so-called Libyan coastguard, whilst the second remains missing.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Friday the 29th of November the Alarm Phone was alerted to two boats in the Central Mediterranean sea. We lost contact to both boats without being able to gain certain knowledge about the fate of the travellers. The first boat we assume was returned to Libya, whilst we fear that the second group of travellers might have lost their lives on the journey.

At 12.20pm CET we were called by a group of 79 travellers, including three children and several pregnant women. They had left Libya on a rubber boat, and were in urgent distress as water was entering the boat, the weather was rough and their engine had stopped working. However, they managed to send us their position. At 12.51pm we tried calling the so-called Libyan coastguard, but were not able to reach them. We therefore sent an email to them, along with the Italian and Maltese coastguards and civil search and rescue organisations in the area. The civil search and rescue organisation operation the vessel Ocean Viking informed us that they were heading towards the travellers. At 11.30pm IOM stated in a tweed that more than 200 migrants had been returned to Libya by the so-called Libyan coastguard. Our shift team kept attempting to reach the boat, but their satellite phone was no longer reachable. By monitoring their credit online we could also see that they did not use the phone to communicate with anyone else. After hearing from several sources about the return of around 200 people, we decided to close the case the following day, assuming that the reason we were not able to reach the travellers was that they had been brought back to Libya.

At 6.12pm we were contacted by a group of 70 travellers, including four pregnant women and 10 children who had left from Libya on a wooden boat the previous evening. The travellers were in urgent distress, as water was entering the boat, the weather was rough and they were without any food or water. Communication was difficult due to bad connection and panic amongst the travelers, but finally we managed to get a position, indicating that the travellers were in Maltese waters. At 6.36pm we alerted Italian and Maltese authorities as well as civil rescue organisations in the area to the distress of the travellers via email. At 7.19pm we called the Maltese coastguard, who confirmed that they were aware of the situation, but would not share information about ongoing search and rescue efforts. When calling the Italian coastguard later in the evening, they only told us that the boat was in Maltese waters and referred us to Malta. Throughout the night we continuously tried to reach the boat, but without success. By monitoring their satellite phone credit online we could also see that they were not in contact with anyone else. In the early morning at 5.20am we spoke to the Maltese coastguard again, who would only tell us that they were “investigating” but would not inform us about concrete operations. However, at 8.05am in another call to the Maltese coastguard they told us that they had spotted the boat with an aircraft the night before, but when sending a search and rescue vessel to the position, they had not found the boat. Our shift team contacted different authorities on Lampedusa, and from them we learned that no boat matching our description had arrived to the island. At the same time we received information from the civil search and rescue organisation Sea Eye that their vessel, Alan Kurdi, had been ordered by the Maltese authorities to stop their attempts to reach the group of travellers. At 9.45am the Maltese coastguard informed us that the search and rescue operation was still ongoing, and at 2.54pm they told us that they estimated that the boat had entered Italian waters. However, the Italian authorities refused to give any information, and told us that they did not feel responsible for the boat, as they did not think it was in Italian waters. Via twitter we tried to raise awareness and put pressure on the authorities to act by sharing the information we had with our followers. Throughout the evening and night we tried to reach the travellers, but this was still not possible. The next morning at around 10am we called both Italian and Maltese coastguards, but they both told us that they had no new information about the case. As our last contact to the travellers had been two days earlier, and the authorities were not willing to share any information with us, we had to face that the fate of these 70 travellers, like so many others, remains unclear. We hope with all our hearts that they somehow have made it to safety, but have to fear that they add to the devastating number of people who have lost their lives in the Mediterranean, whilst looking to find safety in Europe. It angers us to once again witness how responsibility for saving for human lives is being ignored by EUropean nations, often with deathly consequences.