Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 2nd of May 2020
Case name: 2020_05_02 CM242
Situation: 68 people left from Zuara, rescued to Lampedusa
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean

Summary of the Case:
In the morning of May 2nd Alarmphone was alerted to a boat in distress near Lampedusa carrying 68 people (no children). According to the family member who alerted Alarmhone to the distresst case, the people had spent the last 30 hours without food or water and the boat’s engine had broken down several times. At 07.54h authorities in Rome and Malta were informed of the distress case. At 09.00h contact could be re-established with the people on the boat, who informed us that the health condition of those on board was worsening, there was an urgent need for drinking water and the engine had stopped working. They sent an updated GPS position. At 09.10h authorities were informed of the current situation of the people in distress and called on to coordinate their rescue. At 09.30h people on the boat reached out to the Alarmphone again and informed about the steadily worsening condition on board with people panicking. We lost contact to the people on the boat. At 09.50h the rescue of all 67 people by the Italian Coast Guard and the Guardia di Finanza was confirmed. According to the coast guards, people jumped overboard from fear when they saw the coast guard boats approaching. AT 10.00h Alarmphone tweeted: “This case shows again that people escaping Libya have to move much further to be rescued, thus risking their lives for longer times. In this case, at least, @guardiacostiera reacted promptly - unlike @Armed_Forces_MT who delay rescues, sabotage boats & force people back to Libya.”