Watch The Med Alarm Phone Investigations – 8th April 2020
Case name: 2020_04_08-CM238
Situation: A boat carrying 85 travellers were brought back to Libya. After having delayed rescue for almost 41 hours, the Maltese coastguard rescued another boat carrying 66 travellers in distress in the Maltese SAR zone.
Status of WTM Investigation: Concluded
Place of Incident: Central Mediterranean Sea

Summary of the Case: On Wednesday the 8th of April the Alarm Phone was alerted to two boats in distress. The first boat carrying 85 travellers was brought back to Libya by the so-called Libyan coastguard. The second boat, carrying 66 travelers was finally rescued by the Maltese coastguard who delayed rescue for almost 41 hours.

Around 2:00h am CEST the early morning of Wednesday the 8th of April, the Alarm Phone was called by a group of 85 travellers, including 2 children, in distress that had departed from Garabuli in Libya. They told us that they were out of fuel and that water was entering the boat, they were in urgent need of being rescued. At 2:43h our shift team called the Maltese coastguard and alerted them about the distress case, we passed on their GPS position and all relevant information. Although the boat was in the Libyan Search and Rescue (SAR) zone, we first alerted the Maltese coastguard as by experience we knew that it is very hard to reach the so-called Libyan coastguard. Nonetheless at 2:59h we also sent an email to the so-called Libyan coastguard. At 04:14h we were again in contact with the Maltese coastguard that told us that they had not taken any action and the boat was in Libyan SAR zone. Around 9:00h the following morning the travellers called us back several times, the connection was very bad so it was hard to understand each other, however it was clear that they were agitated and in severe distress. At 10:38h we sent another email to the authorities (Maltese, Libyan and Italian) asking for a rescue. At 11:42h we managed to speak to the so-called Libyan coastguard who informed us that they had received the information about this case and a case form the previous day, however before launching a rescue operation, they were waiting for protection equipment from COVID-19. As we were no longer able to establish contact with Maltese or Libyan authorities at 13:17h we called the Italian coastguard, however they did not share any information concerning the possibility of an ongoing rescue operation. At 13:40h we published a tweet informing about this cases well as another ongoing case. During the rest of the afternoon and the night we lost contact with the travellers. Similarly, we could not reach the authorities via phone, at 17:20h we wrote another email to authorities pressuring for a rescue. At 11:51h the following morning the so-called Libyan coastguard informed us that they had intercepted three boats on the previous day. In the afternoon a relative of one of the travellers, confirmed that the group had been brought back to Libya.

At around 5:00h still on Wednesday the 8th of April the Alarm Phone was called by a worried relative of a traveller on a boat in distress at sea. The boat had departed from Libya with approximately 70 people on board. The relative had lost contact with the travellers at around 03:30h and he gave us a GPS position that he had received at 3:00h. At 05:10h our shift team alerted the Italian coastguard and passed on all the information we had. As we could not reach the Maltese coastguard at 05:30h we sent an email. During the rest of the morning we were unable to establish contact with the travellers. At 11:40h we spoke to the so-called Libyan coastguard who told us that they would launch a rescue operation in a few hours. During the hours that followed we tried to call the Maltese and so-called Libyan coastguards several times but without success. At 13:41h we published the first of a series of tweets where we informed about the case. At 17:32h the travellers called us; the situation was desperate, they had been at sea since four days, water was entering the boat and the motor was no longer working. They urgently requested help. One of the travellers also reported that a Maltese P51 ship approached them, but instead of rescuing them, the travellers were told to get out of Maltese waters! At this time they also sent us an updated GPS position, that confirmed that they were in the Maltese SAR zone, and we immediately forwarded it to the Maltese coastguard. One hour later the travellers called us again, the situation was critical. During the evening we continuously tried to reach the Maltese coastguard on different numbers however we were never able to speak to an officer. Although we could no longer reach the travellers during the night, they called us again around 10:10h the following morning but connection was bad, we nevertheless forwarded the position we thought we understood to the authorities. At 11:08h we finally manage to speak to the Maltese coastguard who confirmed that they had received our email, however they did not give us any further information on whether there was a rescue operation ongoing. In the early afternoon we called again the Maltese coastguard, the officer that picked up the phone told us that due to COVID-19 no one could enter or leave Malta. We reminded him their duty to rescue persons in distress at sea, at which he replied that they were investigating all cases. At 17:40h the travellers called us again, they told us that a Maltese Military ship cut off a cable of their engine and told them to die and that five travellers were already in the water. They also gave us an updated GPS position that we immediately passed on to the Maltese and Italian coastguards. At 18:25h the travellers informed us that two Maltese Military ships were on sight and that the military were trying to take their phones. Our shift team then sent updated coordinates to the Maltese coastguard and UNHCR and asked for clarification concerning the events that the travellers reported. At 21:00h we saw a newspaper article of the Times of Malta that stated that Maltese ports would close due to COVID-19 but that the Armed Forces of Malta had rescued a boat. The article reported that the rescued boat was the one alerted to by Alarm Phone. At 21:21h we saw that the Maltese government had issued a press release reporting that a boat had been rescued and that its travellers would be placed in detention. After several attempts made in the evening to get confirmation of the rescue from the Maltese coastguard, at 07:35h the following morning we received confirmation that our boat had been rescued at 22:30h the previous evening, we were told that the travellers on board were 66. The Maltese coastguard therefore eventually rescued the travellers, however the rescue was delayed by almost 41 hours.