Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigation – 7th of June 2015

Case name: 2015_06_07-CM23
Situation: Vessel in distress in Libyan waters, rescued
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea, Libya

Summary of the Case: On Sunday the 7th of June 2015, around noon, the Alarm Phone was alerted to a situation of distress in the Central Mediterranean Sea. A friend of the Alarm Phone had received a distress call and passed on the satellite phone number of the passengers to our shift team. He told us that he had spoken to the passengers at approximately 10:15am. A large group of Syrians (exact number of passengers unknown) was on a vessel North-West of the Libyan coast and their engine had stopped working.

Several attempts to reach the passengers remained unsuccessful. When our shift team contacted the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Rome, we learned that they knew already of the case. They stated that there were 13 vessels in distress at the moment with rescue vessels directed to every case. They also confirmed that a rescue vessel was nearing the vessel in question.

In a phone conversation at about 5pm, MRCC Rome confirmed the rescue of the people on the vessel. The Italian coastguard later on stated that 2731 people were rescued on that Sunday in 15 search and rescue operations.