Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 11th April 2020
Case name: 2020_04_10-CM240
Situation: 51 travellers were pushed-back to Libya from the Maltese SAR zone. 5 travellers dies and 7 are still missing. 72 travellers that also departed from Garabuli, Libya, independently managed to reach Italy.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Saturday the 11th of April the Alarm Phone was alerted to two boats in distress that had departed from Garabuli in Libya. The first boat was pushed-back to Libya, not everyone survived the journey as 5 bodies were retrieved and 7 travellers are still missing. The second boat managed to independently reach Italy.

Saturday the 11th of April, the Alarm Phone was alerted to a white rubber boat in distress carrying 55 travellers, including 7 women, of which one pregnant, and 2 children, that had departed from Garabuli. The travellers were very agitated and scared and water was entering the boat, they told us that they had seen some lights of a boat and were thus heading towards them. Several times we tried to re-establish contact with the boat but connection was always bad and it was difficult to understand each other. At 3:41h we alerted Libyan and Maltese authorities via email. During the rest of the night we were no longer able to speak to the travellers. At 06:43h in the morning, they called us again and told us that the situation was getting even more critical as the engine had stopped working and they were now drifting. As the travellers gave us an updated GPS position we passed it on to authorities. At 8:20h we published the first of a series of tweets informing about the case . At 9:20h we managed to speak to the so-called Libyan coastguard that informed us that they had received our email but that due to COVID-19 they were not engaging in any rescue operation, and that they were in contact with the Italian and Maltese coastguards. At 9:40h we spoke again to the travellers that told us “people are crying, people are suffering, will the rescue people call us soon?” We had to try to explain that the Italian and Maltese authorities would not help them. After speaking to an officer of the Italian coastguard at 10:40 we emailed them the most recent position. After receiving a new positions, at 12:03 we forwarded it to the authorities. We were not able to speak to the travellers again until the next morning, the 12th of April, when they called us at 06:25h and told us that they had no more food or water and were in desperate need for help. At 10:35h we sent another email to the authorities with an updated GPS position. Our shift teams called several times the Maltese coastguard but no one picked up the phone, the travellers were getting more and more desperate. In the afternoon we again lost contact with the travellers. In the evening we spoke again to the Italian coastguard and we once again forwarded the information we had by email, however they did not want to share information concerning a possible search and rescue operation. The Maltese coastguard refused to talk to us. Later in the night we emailed the authorities twice, pressuring them to launch a search and rescue operation. When the following morning, the 13th of April, the travellers were still not reachable we were fearing the worst. In the evening we still had no new information, the Italian coastguard told us they had no new information to share and the Maltese coastguard refused to talk to us. In the night we were informed that a Maltese search aircraft has spotted the boat and ordered all ships transiting in the area to keep a sharp lookout and assist if necessary. We saw that the Portuguese flagged cargo vessel IVAN was in the area of the boat in distress, however we then saw that the vessel continued North, towards Lampedusa. We tried to call the Maltese coastguard several times to get further information but they never picked up the phone. The following morning, the 14th of April, the Maltese coastguard was still unreachable and the Italian coastguard reportedly did not have any news to share and referred us to Malta. At 08:11h we informed the Portuguese coastguard (as a IVAN the Portuguese flagged vessel was in proximity of the boat in distress) of the case and passed on all the relevant information. At 09:33h the Portuguese coastguard told us that they had received the information but had not yet managed to contact IVAN. During this time we were still unable to establish contract with the travellers and we were really fearing the worst. At 10:45h our shift team emailed directly the Ship owner of IVAN requesting information on the assistance they could provide. Later in the morning our shift team identified another cargo ship, Blue Six, in proximity of the boat in distress, after having found the shipping line we spoke to the fleet manager, he told us that he would try to get further information from the crew members and that he would call us back. We also learned that the previous night IVAN could not operate a rescue due to the hight of the ships’ walls and the high waves, thus IVAN gave some assistance to the rubber boat and left the scene. Given the wind and wave direction we estimated the the boat would drift toward the Italian Search and Rescue area, we therefore sent an email to the Italian coastguard urging them to launch a Search and Rescue Operation. At 13:00h we spoke to the Italian coastguard that told us that if the boat was to enter their SAR zone they would launch a rescue operation, however they did not give us any information concerning possible aerial operations. Soon after the manager of Blue Six called us back and told us that Malta had contacted the vessel on the previous day altering about the distress case, however the crew members had not seen anything and the visibility was quite bad. In all of this time we instantly attempted to reach the Maltease coastguard but with no success. The Maltese authorities were leaving our distress calls unanswered and refusing to conduct rescue operations. At 14:10h we emailed the manager and shipping company of Blue Six, and included and estimation of the position of the area where the boat might had drifted to. In the meantime our shift team also called the company operating another merchant vessel, Maersk Callao, in the area of the boat in distress, the information was forwarded to the ship. Soon after we were informed that a helicopter of the Italian coastguard was starting a search flight in the area of the boat in distress, still in Maltese SAR zone. At 18:40h we called the Italian coastguard for information on a potential rescue operation, by this time we estimated that the boat in distress could probably be in Italian SAR zone, however, the office that answered our call did not give us any information. The following morning, the 15th of April we received a call from the manager of Blue Six who informed us that Blue Six had arrived in Tunisia and that although the crew was on a look out they did not see anything, again due to the wind and high waves visibility was very bad. However, the crew did spot a small vessel on the radar that was not eye-visible, the tried to make contact with the vessel but it did not respond to their call. At 11:15h we spoke to the Libyan coastguard, they told us that between 50 and 55 travellers were being rescued, reportedly in the Libyan SAR zone, by a commercial ship and would be disembarked in Tripoli. At 13:19h we learned from an IOM tweet that 47 people had been intercepted the previous night and were on a coastguard vessel near Tripoli waiting for disembarkation, five bodies were also retrieved. Later in the afternoon we received confirmation that the travellers brought back to Libya were the ones from our case. As we know that the boat was in Maltese SAR zone the survivors were illegally pushed back. Finally we also clarified that there were originally 63 people on aboard, only 51 survived, five bodies were found and 7 travellers are still missing.

At 13:55h CEST of Saturday the 11th of April, we were called by travellers in distress near Malta. Connection was bad so it took us several phone calls to understand that they were approximately 72 travellers, including 20 women that had departed from Garabuli three days before. The boat could no longer move and water was entering the boat, the travellers were urgently asking for help. At 14:30h we tried to call the Maltese coastguard on different numbers but no one answered our calls. At 15:17h we sent an email to Maltese and Italian authorities alerting them about the case. Soon after the travellers called us again several times telling us they could see the Island and begging us for help as water was in the boat. They also reported that a Maltese Military vessel had threatened them and disappeared without rescuing them. At 16:05h, 16:24h and 17:16h we tried to call the Maltese authorities again but no one picked up. At 17:25h we published the first of a series of tweets informing about the case. A few minutes later we called the Italian coastguard informing them about the case, they kept interrupting us and asking if we had new information relative to the email we sent and eventually hung up on us. At 17:53h we sent another email to Maltese and Italian coastguard pressuring for a rescue operation. However, during the rest of the evening Maltese authorities continued to leave our distress calls unanswered, at this point we had also lost contact with the travellers. At 20:44h our shift team emailed several European coastguards informing informing about what was happening about this case and other ongoing cases and the Maltese refusal to answer our calls. At 21:22h we finally managed to speak to a Maltese officer, however we were only told that no rescue operation had been launched by either Maltese or so-called Libyan coastguards. During the rest of the night and the following morning we were still unable to contact the people in distress. Fortunately around 15:30h a relative of the travellers informed us that the boat had managed to independently reach Ragusa, in Italy. We were really glad that the travellers managed to survive this long journey despite EU’s authorities attempt to let them drown.